Devin Hester Worth More Than His Abilities At Wr And Pr/kr?

[FenixFalcon]

I was just sitting down mulling over what a great season Hester has had thus far and Tue new dynamic he brings to our offense and came across the article about him playing in TFC Bank stadium again and his previous stats, then it occurred to me...Hester has been in the NFC North his entire career and guess what....we play the entire NFC North this year. So what does this amount to??? Well for starters we brought him in for special teams, but O wonder if it was coincidence or destiny he ended up with us given that we are playing against his division rivals of the past 8 years. He can give us the insight on all 4 teams, especially Chicago who seems to be at the top of the food chain in the North atm. Im glad hes here either way but **** is it good to know hes playing for us instrad of against us or what? Thoughts?

[Malachore]

I think people look too much into the whole former player "insight" thing.

[Falconsfilmfan]

He true hidden value is as an aging player who is still very talented enough to lead from the front and by example but yet old enough to see the window closing on Super Bowl opportunity. I played special team punt return to be exact. There is no feeling like having a really talented returner like Hester continue to deflect attention to his blocker. Also notice he runs over to guys who throw impact blocks and intentionally celebrate with him. He is smarter and wiser. He gets it.

[Lornoth]

I think people look too much into the whole former player "insight" thing.

This. Teams change way too much from year to year for it to truly matter. In fact a lot of change happens so that ex-players Can't give other teams leg up's like this.

[Tuggle'2]

He might not be able to give much info, but I guarantee they're picking his brain anyway. They'll get more information from just watching tape though I'd imagine.

[Ironhead1956]

I'm so proud of TD and Smitty for getting him. He gives our team a very dangerous option.

[PokerSteve]

He can probably offer a few helpful tidbits as we play each of his former foes, but I think his hidden value is that he brings a completely new dynamic to the Falcon offense that every defensive coordinator now has to game plan for in addition to having to game plan for Roddy, and JJ, and Douglas, and even Toilolo. I guess the best way to express it is with Hester we have now reached tactical air superiority. We now have way more firepower than any but the top five defenses can hope to slow down, much less stop. That is, of course, if we play all-out, pedal-to-the-medal on both sides of the ball the way we did in Tampa.

[RS91]

He might not be able to give much info, but I guarantee they're picking his brain anyway. They'll get more information from just watching tape though I'd imagine.

Tell us everything you know about the Bears.

On 3rd down, you can just cover Marshall with 5 guys and Jeffrey with the other 6.

[JayOzOne]

I liked the acquisition but I admit that I thought we overpaid at the time. Anything from this point will be the greatest deal for us in years. I'm looking forward to what's next.

[truth..]

This. Teams change way too much from year to year for it to truly matter. In fact a lot of change happens so that ex-players Can't give other teams leg up's like this.

i dont think teams have nearly as many "mysterys" as people think. football is football. there is only so much you can change. teams run mostly the same plays from year to year. most of this is on film by week 2 anyway. there are no secrets in the NFL

[Tuggle'2]

i dont think teams have nearly as many "mysterys" as people think. football is football. there is only so much you can change. teams run mostly the same plays from year to year. most of this is on film by week 2 anyway. there are no secrets in the NFL

Here it all the time when players say the team they just played brought out looks they've never seen before. About there was no existing tape of said team doing what they did.

Happened to us just this year when Sanu passed the ball and passed the ball well. They did it again the next week and Sanu tossed a TD to Dalton. Teama are constantly adding new stuff. They have to.

[truth..]

Here it all the time when players say the team they just played brought out looks they've never seen before. About there was no existing tape of said team doing what they did.

Happened to us just this year when Sanu passed the ball and passed the ball well. They did it again the next week and Sanu tossed a TD to Dalton. Teama are constantly adding new stuff. They have to.

ehh...i think that is overstated. for the most part, everything in football is pretty basic. nobody is coming out with anything new from week to week. maybe they add a wrinkle to a play, but its really minor stuff. teams arent really coming out with new plays that nobody has seen before. and i dont care about trick plays. thats not stuff you can gameplan for.

[FenixFalcon]

Hester can give tips on tendencies, more so on playcalling on their defenses. He may not know it all but I hear people all off season saying "bring him home TD and pick his brain, learn us the playbook, etc."

[Tuggle'2]

Hester can give tips on tendencies, more so on playcalling on their defenses. He may not know it all but I hear people all off season saying "bring him home TD and pick his brain, learn us the playbook, etc."

Yeah, I am sure he could give insight on Cutlers tendencies in the huddle and whatnot. I still believe that while he could probably help a little, we would still learn more the old fashioned way of watching film.

[FenixFalcon]

Yeah, I am sure he could give insight on Cutlers tendencies in the huddle and whatnot. I still believe that while he could probably help a little, we would still learn more the old fashioned way of watching film.

Which we will do anyway, but every little thing to give us a razor sharp edge helps.

[insight]

Minnesota has a new head coach in Mike Zimmer which means new offense and defensive philosophies. The Chicago Bears staff is new as well so I don't think Devin can provide much useful information about tendencies or strategy.

Edited September 26, 2014 by insight

[pzummo]

His special teams contribution is eye opening. It's amazing to me how much a single returner can impact the ST's unit. I heard all the time before the season, Hester was great because of the blocking on the Bears Special Teams. Well guess what, our blocking looked bad last year, he's the biggest change to our return unit, and his stats are awesome.

He's 2nd in KR average (minimum 5 returns), 8th in total return yards, and 7th in 20+ yard returns.

He's 1st in PR average (minimum 5 returns), 7th in punt return yards, and tied for 1st with 1 PR TD.

His offensive production is on pace for 779 yards and 5 TD's. I don't expect him to hit that much yardage. It would be awesome if he gets that many offensive TD's. By the way, did anybody notice that was Hester's first rushing TD of his career? Wow. The Bears did not have a single reverse with Hester go for a TD.

The best season he ever had offensively was 756 yards and 3 TD's. But he was an every down starter that season with 63 touches. He has 146 yards with only 8 touches in Atlanta. Extrapolate that to the same number of touches (63), he would have 1,150 yards on the season.

Fun facts. Along with being his only rushing TD of his career, Hester's 20 yard rush is his 3rd most rushing yards for an ENTIRE season. LMAO! He had 2 seasons with 61 and 30 rushing yards. He now has 2 rushes of 20+ yards in his career, doubling his total from the prior 8 seasons. He has now tied his 4th most 20+ yard offensive plays in a season mark, at 4, through 3 games. Last but not least, he recorded his first forced fumble of his career against the Bucs, further endearing himself to my praise!

[Lornoth]

His special teams contribution is eye opening. It's amazing to me how much a single returner can impact the ST's unit. I heard all the time before the season, Hester was great because of the blocking on the Bears Special Teams. Well guess what, our blocking looked bad last year, he's the biggest change to our return unit, and his stats are awesome.

You missed all the other ST guys we picked up this year i take it?

[pzummo]

You missed all the other ST guys we picked up this year i take it?

Which guys for our return team? Most of the guys out there were out there last season. The only new guy for the return team I can think of is Stupar, excluding our rookies who always play ST's. Weems is a backup returner and plays mostly as a gunner on the coverage team.

I'm looking at the Hester return TD and except for Stupar, I'm seeing guys like DiMarco, McClain, Ishmael, and Alford, who were all here last season. I didn't review the DL, though I doubt that has changed very much, and if it has, how much of an impact are they for setting up blocks on the return?

[Lornoth]

Which guys for our return team? Most of the guys out there were out there last season. The only new guy for the return team I can think of is Stupar, excluding our rookies who always play ST's. Weems is a backup returner and plays mostly as a gunner on the coverage team.

I'm looking at the Hester return TD and except for Stupar, I'm seeing guys like DiMarco, McClain, Ishmael, and Alford, who were all here last season. I didn't review the DL, though I doubt that has changed very much, and if it has, how much of an impact are they for setting up blocks on the return?

Well Ish was here but never active last year as far as i remember. Roby is out there, Stupar like you said. Weems is out there on returns as well. That's over a 3'rd of the return group different than last year mate.

[DirdieBirdieIndie]

Are we forgetting Mike Tice?

[pzummo]

Well Ish was here but never active last year as far as i remember. Roby is out there, Stupar like you said. Weems is out there on returns as well. That's over a 3'rd of the return group different than last year mate.

Eh. I think that's typical for just about every team every year. We are 3rd in PR average this season. We were 20th last season and 25th the season before. The last time we had a decent PR unit was when Weems was our returner, and he was a pretty good PR. Even then though, he averaged 3 yards less per return than what Hester is averaging. I attribute a lot of it to him, though I can see your argument. My counter argument would be that we haven't had a single KR or PR touchdown since 4 years ago. And the coaches have emphasized the importance of Special Teams every season. I don't think it's a coincidence we get one in the 3rd game of Hester's first season with us.

[Lornoth]

Eh. I think that's typical for just about every team every year. We are 3rd in PR average this season. We were 20th last season and 25th the season before. The last time we had a decent PR unit was when Weems was our returner, and he was a pretty good PR. Even then though, he averaged 3 yards less per return than what Hester is averaging. I attribute a lot of it to him, though I can see your argument. My counter argument would be that we haven't had a single KR or PR touchdown since 4 years ago. And the coaches have emphasized the importance of Special Teams every season. I don't think it's a coincidence we get one in the 3rd game of Hester's first season with us.

Just to be clear i'm not trying to diss Hester at all... he's still one of if not the best return men in the league, maybe ever. If we still had HD or Franks back there we still wouldn't be anywhere close to having a return TD. That being said, i don't think we'd have the good stat line on returns we do if we had the same ST unit from last year. It's a combo of a much better returner and much better blocks in front of him.

[jdawg4876]

Eh. I think that's typical for just about every team every year. We are 3rd in PR average this season. We were 20th last season and 25th the season before. The last time we had a decent PR unit was when Weems was our returner, and he was a pretty good PR. Even then though, he averaged 3 yards less per return than what Hester is averaging. I attribute a lot of it to him, though I can see your argument. My counter argument would be that we haven't had a single KR or PR touchdown since 4 years ago. And the coaches have emphasized the importance of Special Teams every season. I don't think it's a coincidence we get one in the 3rd game of Hester's first season with us.

Just to be clear i'm not trying to diss Hester at all... he's still one of if not the best return men in the league, maybe ever. If we still had HD or Franks back there we still wouldn't be anywhere close to having a return TD. That being said, i don't think we'd have the good stat line on returns we do if we had the same ST unit from last year. It's a combo of a much better returner and much better blocks in front of him.

good pts on both, I will say weems has made a big difference go back to the first couple of pre season games before he came back, there is a big difference now. just another good fa move this offseason by TD. pretty much all the big FA moves this yr has paid off to some extent, even tj yates. yates is not great but still a lot better than dom davis was. The lbs he brought in were the one weak spot to me. But Jon, Paul, Gabe, Devin, lowery, jackson and Weems have all been good to great

Edited September 26, 2014 by jdawg4876

[pzummo]

Just to be clear i'm not trying to diss Hester at all... he's still one of if not the best return men in the league, maybe ever. If we still had HD or Franks back there we still wouldn't be anywhere close to having a return TD. That being said, i don't think we'd have the good stat line on returns we do if we had the same ST unit from last year. It's a combo of a much better returner and much better blocks in front of him.

Understood. I was thinking about previous seasons and I wondered... How many times did we see good punt return coverage only to have our PR wave for a fair catch? I remember several instances wanting to throw my remote at the screen because our PR had at least 10-15 yards with nobody around him only to see him wave it off for a fair catch. It makes me wonder if our blocking was really that bad to begin with. With Hester's return TD, he had guys within a few feet of him and still returned it. Fair catch Franks would have waved that one off.