Devin Hester is 30 years old, counts $3 million against the cap, and told a newspaper he was considering retirement a few weeks back. Even if he returns, he'll probably be with a new team in 2013.
Part of it is that the Bears have a new coaching staff into whose plans Hester might not fit, and he also may want a fresh start with a team he thinks will make him a bigger part of the offense. Another factor, however, is that Hester might not be that good anymore -- even on the punt returns where he used to be a difference-maker.
Chicago led the league in punt-return average in both 2010 (17.1) and 2011 (15.7), bringing 5 punts back for touchdowns in those two seasons. Last year? Chicago was 26th, and didn't have any punt return scores.
Maybe the Raiders, last in punt returns a year ago, should take a chance on Hester finding his groove again. Oakland has ranked higher than 24th in punt returns just once in the last nine years. They've been last or next-to-last in four of those seasons. Incredibly, they haven't returned a punt for a touchdown since 2008.
The 2012 punt return numbers are presented below.
No Yds Avg TD Rk
26 445 17.1 2 1 Buffalo
31 475 15.3 3 2 Tennessee
41 606 14.8 1 3 Cleveland
34 420 12.4 1 4 Dallas
42 506 12.0 1 5 New England
31 346 11.2 1 6 Miami
28 312 11.1 1 7 Indianapolis
36 395 11.0 1 8 Green Bay
38 414 10.9 0 9 Houston
36 378 10.5 0 10 San Francisco
47 488 10.4 1 11 Cincinnati
23 238 10.3 1 12 NY Jets
30 310 10.3 1 13 Philadelphia
27 276 10.2 0 14 Carolina
33 320 9.7 1 15 San Diego
43 404 9.4 1 16 Baltimore
48 445 9.3 1 17 Denver
36 335 9.3 0 18 Washington
32 287 9.0 1 19 Minnesota
36 324 9.0 0 20 Tampa Bay
43 375 8.7 0 21 Kansas City
35 302 8.6 0 22 Detroit
42 355 8.5 0 23 Seattle
54 441 8.2 0 24 Arizona
26 205 7.9 0 25 Atlanta
44 333 7.6 0 26 Chicago
25 190 7.6 0 27 New Orleans
34 248 7.3 0 28 Jacksonville
41 300 7.3 0 29 Pittsburgh
20 144 7.2 0 30 NY Giants
37 245 6.6 0 31 St. Louis
34 173 5.1 0 32 Oakland
--Andy Richardson