adam Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 It is sort of interesting to see where both of these players are a couple years after they both dominated the return game in 2007. Since then, Hester has been converted to a full time WR and has 0 return TD's and is near the bottom in Punt Returns (8.1 AVG). Receiving-wise, Hester has scored 6 Receiving TDs since 2007 with over 1,300 yards in two seasons (49th in receiving yards in 2008 and currently 43rd in 2009). Cribbs has 6 Return TDs since 2007, and is still a league leader in both Punts and Kickoffs. At this point, has this been the wrong decision? Based on the numbers, Hester is scoring less as a WR than as a Returner, and based on number of snaps, etc, it should be the other way around. I understand the team is underachieving, but this just seems like one area that was a huge mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfoligno Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 A question I always ask though is, how long could Hester continue to score 5 or 6 TDs a season as a return man. You point to Cribbs, who is flat out awesome, but when you look at his scores, there just are not that many. He has 4 this year, but only 1 last year and 3 in his great 2007 season. Look at Cribbs and Cle in general. Cribbs is great. Few would argue. But as great as he is as a return man, does he really make the team better? He breaks off a great return, and the offense still goes 3 and out and punts. That, I believe, was the whole idea w/ Hester. As great of a job as he did in returns, if you don't have an offense to follow through, that benefit just doesn't carry over nearly as much. The idea further was the Hester could help the offense. IMHO, the move from returner to WR was not wrong. The wrong was expecting Hester to be a #1 WR. Further, the wrong was expecting Hester to be a #1 WR, w/ much else behind him to take some pressure away. I think Hester is and can be a solid and effective WR. I think we simply need to get him out of the #1 role. There are plenty of #2 and even #3 WRs in this league who can be game breakers, w/o that #1 label. I do not think Hester could have continued to score 5 or 6 times per year as a returner. Teams would simply focus on him too much, as well as kick away from him. As a WR though, teams can not simply avoid him. I think it also worth pointing out that our return game has been pretty good since he left, w/ DM, Knox and now Bennett all notching scores in the return game. It is sort of interesting to see where both of these players are a couple years after they both dominated the return game in 2007. Since then, Hester has been converted to a full time WR and has 0 return TD's and is near the bottom in Punt Returns (8.1 AVG). Receiving-wise, Hester has scored 6 Receiving TDs since 2007 with over 1,300 yards in two seasons (49th in receiving yards in 2008 and currently 43rd in 2009). Cribbs has 6 Return TDs since 2007, and is still a league leader in both Punts and Kickoffs. At this point, has this been the wrong decision? Based on the numbers, Hester is scoring less as a WR than as a Returner, and based on number of snaps, etc, it should be the other way around. I understand the team is underachieving, but this just seems like one area that was a huge mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted December 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Did Hester switching to WR prevent us from getting a true #1 WR though? If the team believed he could develop into one, that might be why they didn't pursue any legit WR's. If that was the case, I think it was a bad idea, because like you said, Hester is best suited as a #2/#3 WR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfoligno Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Did the team view Hester as a #1 (Steve Smith) WR all along, or did they refer to Hester as their #1 Wr simply because they had no other option? Who knows. Either way, I don't think the move to WR was bad in and of itself. I think the problem was going to the extreme of not only expecting him to learn and develop at WR, but expecting him to so quickly become a #1 WR. Did Hester switching to WR prevent us from getting a true #1 WR though? If the team believed he could develop into one, that might be why they didn't pursue any legit WR's. If that was the case, I think it was a bad idea, because like you said, Hester is best suited as a #2/#3 WR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted December 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Did the team view Hester as a #1 (Steve Smith) WR all along, or did they refer to Hester as their #1 Wr simply because they had no other option? Who knows. Either way, I don't think the move to WR was bad in and of itself. I think the problem was going to the extreme of not only expecting him to learn and develop at WR, but expecting him to so quickly become a #1 WR. Well all initial responses from the team seemed to point in that direction. Probably a little bit of both. I do agree that ever thinking he was going to be a #1 was a mistake, whether that prevented us from bringing others in, we will never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixote Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Did Hester switching to WR prevent us from getting a true #1 WR though? If the team believed he could develop into one, that might be why they didn't pursue any legit WR's. If that was the case, I think it was a bad idea, because like you said, Hester is best suited as a #2/#3 WR. Angelo was open to the idea of a true #1 wide receiver or he would not have tried to get Boldin. He just could not pull off a deal for a #1 that he liked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ54 Posted December 23, 2009 Report Share Posted December 23, 2009 Cribbs runs a 4.6 forty the difference between his current KR/PR and Hester's the amount of heart he runs with. Cribbs fights for the yards while Hester is just looking for the easy holes these days, or the least painful tackle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfoligno Posted December 23, 2009 Report Share Posted December 23, 2009 I guess my point though is, the move to WR was not a mistake. The mistake was more likely in their belief he could be a #1, and do so pretty quickly. I personally like Hester at WR. I believe most (not all) who feel Hester at WR is a bust are the ones who felt he would become a Steve Smith player. I remember well the massive posts of fans comparing him to Steve Smith. Hester was never a full time WR at Miami. He was moved all over, playing both offense and defense, never really developing at any one position. His first year w/ us, he was a DB/ returner. His 2nd year w/ us, he was a returner who got a couple plays at WR, but I would not even say then he was truly being developed at WR. It wasn't until his 3rd year w/ the team he was actually moved to WR and developed as a WR. In his first year at WR, he had 51 catches for 665 yards and 3 scores. He did that on a bad offense w/o a quality #2 WR to take pressure away. This year, he projects to have 62 for 780 yards. No, that isn't what many expected, but at the same time does reflect upward movement in stats. Further, while he is still far from developed, I do believe he has shown a lot of developement at WR. He seems to understand the offense better, and runs better routes than in the past. His hands also seem to have improved, which shows an improvement in concentration. I don't think he will ever be Steve Smith, but I never thought that was realistic. I do think he could be a good WR for us though, and would love to see what he could do if (a) we had an OL that could protect our QB, and thus allow Hester time to run route and ( add better quality opposite him, taking pressure away. Well all initial responses from the team seemed to point in that direction. Probably a little bit of both. I do agree that ever thinking he was going to be a #1 was a mistake, whether that prevented us from bringing others in, we will never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason Posted December 23, 2009 Report Share Posted December 23, 2009 I guess my point though is, the move to WR was not a mistake. The mistake was more likely in their belief he could be a #1, and do so pretty quickly. Agreed I personally like Hester at WR. I believe most (not all) who feel Hester at WR is a bust are the ones who felt he would become a Steve Smith player. I remember well the massive posts of fans comparing him to Steve Smith. Agreed Hester was never a full time WR at Miami. He was moved all over, playing both offense and defense, never really developing at any one position. His first year w/ us, he was a DB/ returner. His 2nd year w/ us, he was a returner who got a couple plays at WR, but I would not even say then he was truly being developed at WR. It wasn't until his 3rd year w/ the team he was actually moved to WR and developed as a WR. Agreed In his first year at WR, he had 51 catches for 665 yards and 3 scores. He did that on a bad offense w/o a quality #2 WR to take pressure away. Agreed This year, he projects to have 62 for 780 yards. No, that isn't what many expected, but at the same time does reflect upward movement in stats. Further, while he is still far from developed, I do believe he has shown a lot of developement at WR. He seems to understand the offense better, and runs better routes than in the past. His hands also seem to have improved, which shows an improvement in concentration. Agreed I don't think he will ever be Steve Smith, but I never thought that was realistic. I do think he could be a good WR for us though, and would love to see what he could do if (a) we had an OL that could protect our QB, and thus allow Hester time to run route and ( add better quality opposite him, taking pressure away. Kind of agreed My disagreement with the last one is, I don't really think the WR opposite him is making that big of an impact to hinder or help one way or another. Further, if the OL was improved, like you mentioned, the very next most important thing to make Hester better is to get rid of Turner. Without Turner in the mix, I have a feeling, just like I did before this season, that the WRs will be better than everyone thinks, and the suitable opposite WRs will emerge opposite Hester. In fact, I'm convinced that the Bears actually have a pretty decent, if not a bit raw, corp of WRs. Knox is lightning in a bottle. Bennett is a great possession guy with deceiving speed. Aromashodu looks to have some serious talent. And Hester is obviously one of the most dangerous players in the NFL. Get rid of the OC and improve the OL, and the WR will emerge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfoligno Posted December 23, 2009 Report Share Posted December 23, 2009 My point about a better WR opposite Hester has to do w/ who covers him. Right now, opponents #1 CB will matchup w/ Hester. That is a tough draw for a WR trying to develop. Few rookie WRs are matched up w/ opponents best CBs, much less WRs as raw as Hester. I realize Hester is not a rookie, but the point is still having to due with point of development. I personally would argue many WRs who have 3 or 4 years of WR experience in college are more developed then Hester was at the beginning of this year, if not even now. That doesn't mean I am saying we need Boldin or whoever. Maybe Knox in fact can develop into that opposite WR. I don't know. But my point was only that Hester, IMHO, would be far better if removed from the #1 spot, and put into a position where he was not facing elite CBs. That is one reason why I love the idea of Hester in the slot, as I think he could flat out destroy nickel DBs. My disagreement with the last one is, I don't really think the WR opposite him is making that big of an impact to hinder or help one way or another. Further, if the OL was improved, like you mentioned, the very next most important thing to make Hester better is to get rid of Turner. Without Turner in the mix, I have a feeling, just like I did before this season, that the WRs will be better than everyone thinks, and the suitable opposite WRs will emerge opposite Hester. In fact, I'm convinced that the Bears actually have a pretty decent, if not a bit raw, corp of WRs. Knox is lightning in a bottle. Bennett is a great possession guy with deceiving speed. Aromashodu looks to have some serious talent. And Hester is obviously one of the most dangerous players in the NFL. Get rid of the OC and improve the OL, and the WR will emerge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeman89 Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 none of our receivers block when they are supposed to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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