Perceiving Hester: Devin by the numbers.

good post man. I agree with you. his progression is great. I cant wait to see him and Cutler connecting next season. Tho you will get flamed for this by some self proclaimed smart guys, stats dont lie. The guy is fine. Players get worse when you keep moving them around. Let him stay at WR. I have no problem with him being a return man as long as he doenst lose snaps at WR.

His big strength is open-field running, and the one area that he’s behind nearly all of the others is TD’s. A good gameplan would be to maximize his KR/PR touches, run him out of the slot for 20 plays/game, and WR for about 10 plays – with all designed to give him favorable open-field matchups with the ball.

Thanks for doing this research. My thought is that our key problem this year was not our receivers, but the interceptions and an ineffective defense.

…the horse is out of the barn, why bother locking the door now?
And I think that DisCUBbobulated made a good point above when he outlined better ways to use Hester’s skill set.

I voted other because I think he can be used to better advantage than Turner did so I didn’t want the same career to continue, I wanted it to maximize. Maybe Martz can help this process out.

I think he should be used out of the slot, and I think he should run a few end arounds, maye some wildcat type stuff, as well as returning kicks.

But have him on a lower spot on the depth chart, like being the #3 guy. And that way he will have more time to focus on kickoff returns.

Second, I agree with Hester’s development. I don’t know that he’ll ever be an elite guy but can be a very capable NFL WR, which isn’t all bad. There was a post the other day about him returning to Full Time returner and I said there that people are assuming that he’ll pick up where he left off before he made the switch, which, from what we’ve seen the last two seasons, doesn’t look to be the case.

I think you keep him as a WR, but let him compete with the other guys to determine who belongs where and also throw him into the mix at returning with Knox and Manning (assuming Manning is still on the team). I don’t like Hester in the slot because I have never felt he breaks tackles nor makes people miss in close quarters. I think you keep him on the outside and use his speed to spread the field.

I agree completely Hester has done IMO a great job. 4 years ago he was a returner/ corner and this year he was nearly a thousand yard receiver? Many also forget that during our horrendous losing streak of losing 8 of 10 games Hester was 2nd in the league in receptions behind only larry fitzgerald!
My question is what is what do people consider a number one receiver? 1000 + yard season? 70 or more catches? sure hands? Well Hester displayed many of those skills and had he been healthy was on pace for a solid season.
What would i do with him? unless we get a Bonafide #1(Marshall, Boldin) Hester is still a starter.
What about the return game? What about it? Knox Bennett and Manning are VERY dangerous and deserve some much needed respect. Each have taken one back to the house and i like the duo of knox and manning on kickoff because you will always have a speedster with fresh legs returning the ball.

You sure Edwards only had 4 drops? i think you left off a zero.

I’d love to see him do both effectively, maybe playing him in the slot could do that, maybe not. I think that his TDs as a returner (6 and 7) which would place him 6th and 7th on this list, are as good as a receiver and that that is something overlooked.

I replied with what else does he have to do to prove it. The numbers are there. Not to mention his hands, he made some clutch grabs. On top of that, it was a few games this year when i saw Hester get much separation on a play only to get overthrown by Cutler..one that was grossly overthrown and could would of went for a touchdown (the eagles game i believe)even to the point Chris Collinsworth said Cutler screwed the pooch on that play(paraphrasing of course).

Well, it looks like all of us knowledgeable Chicago fans will finally get their wish and Hester is not looking like he will be the #1 receiver next year so guess we will just have to wait and see who steps up, if anyone.

I don’t make too many gurantees but i am about to make one. Hester will flourish on offense next season in whatever role he is in. Special Teams? I truly hope so but jury is still out on that.

Article by Brad Biggs that pertains to this post. http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/02/martz-says-hester-could-be-stupid-good-in-slot.html

I’ve always been a Hester supporter as a WR, and part-time returner. I tend to agree with the notion that great returners flame out and fade away rather quickly. It’s only natural to want to get the ball in his hands on offense. Too bad Turner didn’t effectively do it as much as we would have liked. Based on his ‘09 numbers, he’s right at or near the top in a lot of important statistical categories. If not for injuries and offensive ineptitude, he would’ve been the first Bears WR to reach 1,000 yards since Booker?

I believe in Martz’s system he’ll thrive as a 3rd WR matched up against inferior defenders, once Aroma and Knox/Bennett gain respectability as outside threats.

yeah I’d let Martz work with that for a lil while.

He accumulated the majority of his stats in the last 4 games, when he finally received significant playing time.
link, another link
In only 4 games:
22 catches for 282 yards, 4 td’s, which means his per game averages are 70.5 yards/g, 1 TD/g, & 5.5 recpt/game. These compare very favorably to those other young wideouts.

Obviously with such a small sample size, DA’s future production can not accurately be predicted.

The bottom line is Cutler had been calling for DA all season. When he got him on the field, they connected and produced very nicely. Martz has all but pegged Hester as his slot guy (ala Az Hakim). DA is the defacto #1 until or if the Bears bring someone else in.

I like what the new OC said about Devin being great in the slot and having more time for returns. It’s what a lot of people have wanted for 3 years, only the old OC didn’t get it.

Then why is he got so few catches when he’s been targeted so many times. Stop looking at stats and look at tape ! Believe your eyes …. and 3 TDs from a #1 receiver ?

Decent stats and definite improvement in the production department. But a guy who is really not that great of a receiver. His route running is average at best. He is actually not good in traffic. His hands are OK on the high balls but he can’t dig the ball or get down low to make the tough shoe-string catch. He has never shown us the ability to stretch out and come down in-bounds on the sidelines. His overall catching zone is actually pretty small. If the ball is not on the numbers, he misses. Lastly, he is not fluid and is terrible at adjusting both when in the air or when trying to run under a deep pass. Yes, Hester can often beat his man but he can’t finish well; either he over-runs balls, under runs balls or ends up getting turned around and is unable to adjust. The fact is he simply doesn’t have the instincts that you want out of a high quality NFL receiver. His greatest asset and the reason for the conversion was his open field running ability. Frankly, I can only come up with two or three plays where he actually translated his open field running (that made him “Ridiculous” as a returner) into meaningful plays as a receiver. I think his increased production is on account of the respect he gets from DBs because of his speed. By far, his most common catches are come back routes or 5-10 yard outs where he is getting a cushion. Perhaps in the slot he’ll really get a chance to do some damage if he can get the ball on the run in space but as an x or y receiver, I would take Bennett and/or DA any day over Hester.