Chicago Bears Countdown to Kickoff: 23 Days with Devin Hester

Devin Hester moves to become the Chicago Bears WR1

Heading into the 2008 season, Hester made a position switch, and while he would remain the team's starting returner, he moved to the offensive side of the ball, moving from cornerback to wide receiver. Despite this move, Hester was still allowed to wear the number 23 mainly because it was not an ineligible number for a pass-catcher, even though receivers at the time were kept between the numbers 10-19 and 80-89.

Nonetheless, Hester had a productive season on offense with a total of 726 yards and three touchdowns on 57 touches. On special teams, he was held to zero return touchdowns for the first time in his career but accumulated 877 yards as both a kick and punt returner.

His 2009 season was very similar, as Hester accumulated a solid 756 yards and three touchdowns in just 13 games on offense, and was again held to zero return touchdowns on the season. However, at the age of 28, Hester made an impressive return to the top of the league in 2010.

In his fifth season, Hester was available for all 16 games, the first time since his second year, and played well on both offense and special teams. His 500 yards and four touchdowns on offense accompanied an impressive season as a punt returner where he lead the league in yards (564), touchdowns (3), and yards per return (17.1). He was again named to the Pro Bowl and All-Pro team and helped the team make it to the NFC Championship, where they unfortunately lost.

Following the playoff loss, the Chicago Bears as a team struggled, and Hester was unable to match the production from his first couple of seasons. In 2011, he managed to lead the league in both yards per punt return (16.2) and kickoff return touchdowns (1). The next season, he was held to zero total return touchdowns, marking the third touchdown-less year in seven seasons. In 2013, Hester, who was technically re-positioned back to cornerback despite not playing on defense throughout the season, led the league in 1,436 kickoff return yards.

By the end of the 2013 season, Hester had just one return touchdown over the past two seasons, and the Chicago Bears decided not to resign him, making him an unrestricted free agent. With the first opportunity to decide upon a team since his college recruiting, Hester joined the Atlanta Falcons, where his friend and mentor Deion Sanders spent many years as an elite cornerback and kick returner.