When the Bears start minicamp on Friday, Rex Grossman will have a new offensive weapon. Devin Hester, who scored 7 touchdowns off kick returns as a rookie, is moving to offense in an undefined roll.
Hester will work with the wide receivers at minicamp, but he’s also expected to line up in the backfield at times and could be utilized like the New Orleans Saints’ Reggie Bush.
Even though Hester might not like the move, it had to be done. He actually wasn’t as terrible at cornerback as people thought he was, but every time he lined up on defense, opposing receivers screamed for the ball, like the Rams’ Torry Holt did in Week 13 last season. Hester will probably get most his action as a receiver, because the Bears’ drafted Garrett Wolfe to fill the “Reggie Bush role” out of the backfield, but I’m sure offensive coordinator Ron Turner is working on ways right now to get the ball in Devin’s hands. Expect the Bears to a bunch of reverses to him next season.
The move gives the Bears’ another lightning fast playmaker on offense. Adding Hester to a group that already includes Bernard Berrian, Wolfe, and Mark Bradley makes the Bears’ offense one of the fastest in the NFL.
But real question now is: what is Hester’s rating in Madden going to be? We already know he has a 100 rating in speed, the first player to ever receiver a perfect score in any category, so that has to bring up his overall rating a little bit. I had him penciled in as 74-78 as a cornerback; if his position in the game is wide receiver, I could see him around 76-77.
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