Former Chicago Bears return man Devin Hester is arguably the greatest to ever do it in terms of punt and kickoff returns. Hester had that special ability to make sure you got up off your seat every time he touched the football. He made mouths drop with his ability to bring back returns on special teams.
Hester played 11 seasons in the NFL including the first 8 with the Chicago Bears. He finished his career with 14 punt return touchdowns and 5 kick return touchdowns while being named a Pro Bowler 4 times and an All-Pro 3 times.
During his time in the NFL, Hester has played with some very polarizing players including Jay Cutler. Hester recently caught up with Bleacher Report’s master_tesfatsion for the latest episode of Untold Stories. On this episode, Hester reveals some interesting things about his time as a teammate of Cutler including a story about how he won $1,000+ off a bet in practice:
“I’m on the sideline. We are in practice, right. They are doing pregame, warming up, tossing and throwing the ball,” Hester said. “Cutler and Marshall get into it. Marshall yells out “I made you. Without me you wouldn’t be Jay Cutler’. . . I was looking at Julius Peppers and he was looking at me. I said ‘Listen here, we are going to make a bet.” I said ‘I bet you Jay Cutler throws B-Marshall the ball. If he throws him the ball, you give me $50. If he doesn’t, I’ll give you $100.’ That’s how comfortable I was. I knew how the practice was going to go. He’s mad at Jay but Jay is going to give him the ball the whole practice. The bet stopped. We stopped the bet at 21 passes. He threw it 21 passes to Marshall, 21-straight. I was looking at the coaches like “Are you F****** me?’.”
Damn. I know Cutler and Marshall were close at one time. But 21-straight passes to him in practice? No wonder other receivers were frustrated.
Hester went on to say that Cutler was the best quarterback he’s ever played with.
“As a quarterback, like I’d tell him this to his face today. To me, my years in the NFL, I played 11 years and he’s the best quarterback when it comes to accuracy, power, and knowledge of the game. The best quarterback hands down I’ve played with,” Hester said. “Now when it comes to leadership? The worst. He doesn’t know how to communicate and get teammates involved.”
That’s interesting.
You can watch the full episode of Untold Stories here.