Posts tagged ‘Hester’

Superman at work

And based on the amount he’s getting paid, returning better not be all Devin Hester does this year. I will personally admit to initially being staggered by the size of Devin’s new contract, reported as 4yrs/$40mil by many outlets. I felt it was important for the Bears to pay him and I was glad he reported after only two days, but that much money made it seem like Jerry Angelo had been well… had. However, like so many other NFL contracts things are never as they seem.

The reality of Hester’s extension is that he is now on a 6yr/$33mil deal with about half of that guaranteed. That seems to be a fair combination of highest paid Special Teams player (about $3mil/yr) and young developing receiver (about $2.5mil/yr). A lot has been made of the $10mil performance bonus he could receive, but that’s only coming if he turns into Larry Fitzgerald or Braylon Edwards… so it’s never coming. In the end this is another well done contract. Like with Peanut Tillman, Nathan Vasher, Alex Brown, Desmond Clark, and Tommie Harris before Angelo managed to nail down a market level contract without a significant holdout or PR battle during fairly tumultuous times in the NFL. The man simply does not get enough credit for keeping the cap situation under control and important players in town. And he deserves even more credit given that Hester is such a unique player and as such it was a negotiation without precedent.

The Bears needed to find a way to pay Hester for his production, excitement, marketability, and potential and this contract seems to do all of that. Now all the remaining questions will be answered on the field. Like, how many offensive snaps can he play without his returns suffering? And will he ever be able to learn more than one route as a WR? While I reserve the right to be incredibly apprehensive about Hester and his ability to live up to this deal (and reference back to this at some point in the future with an “I told you so”), I’m going to forget all about that when he’s fielding the opening kick-off in Indianapolis, or more likely it’s kicked out of bounds, and that’s the point.

The clock struck 3 and Superman was nowhere to be found. At a time the Bears need Hester being faster than a locomotive and leaping diving defenders in a single bound more than ever it appears his contract situation has poisoned Bourbonnais with kryptonite. Now at this point Jerry Angelo has to find a way to get Hester to camp for fear of being painted as Lex Luther.

In reality this is a pretty complicated situation. While no one would argue that Devin Hester is an elite NFL talent and grossly underpaid at $445,000 for the ‘08-’09 season, there is also no contract or player in the NFL to compare him to. The Bears and many fans are optimistic that Hester can develop into a #1 WR, but so far he has just 300 career receiving yards and rumors abound that he’s had trouble picking up the offense. So while the Bears would happily project him as the cornerstone of their offense for the foreseeable future, they also need to protect themselves against the chance that Hester’s pro career mirrors his college career and he never finds a true position. So do you pay him as the best special teams player in the NFL, and therefore about $2.5mil/yr? Or do you pay him as a #1 WR, about $7mil/yr? Where can the two sides land in between? Hester and his agent obviously understand how important he is to a Bears team that is currently lacking and sort of established threat, but there’s a decent chance if the Bears and Angelo cave too much it could really come back to bite them.

Just as we were settling in for the Rex/Orton derby and prepping for our first looks at rookies Chris Williams and Matt Forte the landscape has completely changed. Now the only question that will matter early in camp is, when will Superman return?

Where's Superman?