I have noticed, along with many other people, that Devin Hester is not putting as much effort into returning kicks and punts as he used too.  I am going to take a guess as to why.  I think a lot of it is contract related.  And with that, fatigue related.  Lets take a look at the contract he signed:

Signed a four-year, $40.975 million contract extension through 2013. The deal contains $15 million guaranteed, including a $5 million signing bonus and $18.939 million in performance-based escalators. He can get $250,000 workout bonuses in each year. 2008: $445,000, 2009: $530,000 (+ $5 million roster bonus), 2010: $750,000, (+ $5 million roster bonus), 2011: $1.583 million, 2012: $1.646 million, 2013: $1.857 million (+ $10 million "de-escalating" roster bonus), 2014: Free Agent

The deal features escalators of $10 million in each of the final two years, which Hester can reach through receptions, yardage and other targets.  

He is catching 5-7 balls a game now and getting hit every time, sometimes directly over the middle.  He has to catch the ball during a punt return when he has gunners coming at him at full speed.  He has to return kick returns with gunners coming at him at full speed.  

All three of these activities leaves him open to injury.   And the one that pays the most by far for Hester is catching the ball and making receptions.  Now if you are Hester, are you going to put more of an effort in as a receiver or as a returner when you can get an extra $10M if you are able to hit your receiver targets?  Getting hurt during a punt or kick return for him is leaving millions of dollars on the table.   We have seen him consistently step out of bounds instead of trying to make the play and I think this is exactly why.  I am sure he has escalators for kick and punt return TDs, but those are much harder to come by and are much rougher on his body.

While the selfish side of me wants him back there and making the same returns that got him the contract in the first place, I also understand where he is coming from.  We pretty much got what we asked for.  We wanted him as a receiver and we have him as a receiver.  But with that is going to come sacrifices.  Right now he really doesn't have much incentive to put forth the same effort on kick and punt returns, especially when we are asking him to become a major part of the offense.  He is on the field for 30-35 plays a game and running routs at full speed and blocking each play. You don't see too many teams putting their #2 receiver on both punt and kick returns.  

So, my suggestion is this.  We find someone that has more of an incentive to put forth the effort.  We keep him for the majority of punt returns but take him off kick returns.  We have a more then capable returner  in Danieal Manning for kick returns who has consistently showed he can hit the holes hard and give us good field position.    Danieal Manning also has a strong incentive to go at this as hard as he possibly can because he knows he needs to start making more of an impact fast and he doesn't have the contract Devin Hester has yet.  And for punt returns, I think we start developing Earl Bennett, who returned one during the preseason, for the job slowly by giving him a couple of chances a game.  Or we try Corey Graham, who was a dominant returner in college.  This gives Devin Hester a rest and, if Devin becomes the #1 receiver, we have someone to go too.

I really don't think Hester's return drop off has anything to do with a sudden lack of ability.  He is making a business decision, whether it be subconcious or concious, to play cautious and not get hurt during these returns.  He is also conserving his energy for the routes he is being asked to run.  

What do you guys think?