Devin Hester was one of many Falcons to reach the end zone last night, scoring on a record-setting punt return and a running play. However, it’s his role as a wide receiver that has him more happy with the Falcons than he was in his last few seasons with the Bears.
“I wasn’t happy the last three or four years in Chicago because things wasn’t going the way I expect,” Hester said yesterday, according to Adam Hoge of WGN Radio (Twitter link). “I would always have a great camp, have all the receivers saying and coaches saying I had the best camp of all the receivers. And once the season start off, I’m not there.”
As Ed Werder of ESPN.com tweets, there were a few teams eyeing Hester in free agency that felt the veteran wasn’t worth the $10MM contract he signed with Atlanta, but it’s looking like a good investment for the Falcons so far. Here’s more from around the NFC:
- So far, the deal that saw Darren Sproles land with Philadelphia in exchange for a fifth-round pick looks like a steal for the Eagles, and the veteran running back is happy with his situation. As he told reporters on Thursday, including Tim McManus of PhillyMag.com, Sproles wasn’t initially informed of his impending release by the Saints, but when it turned out that the Eagles were one of a handful of teams interested in trading for him, he told his agent to “make that happen.” Per Sproles, five teams explored acquiring him, and the Eagles were one of the three with serious interest.
- Within the same piece, McManus takes a look at the unusual case of Eagles linebacker Brandon Graham, who has a chance to make $2.5MM in not likely to be earned incentives, but will need to see a few more snaps to have a chance at that money.
- The Bears worked out a long list of free agents this week, and Jeff Dickerson of ESPNChicago.com passes along the names in a pair of tweets: Blake Annen (TE), Derek Cox (CB), Brandon Ghee (CB), Mike Harris (CB), Lavelle Hawkins (WR), Kendall James (CB), Derrick Martin (S), David Paulson (TE), Brad Sorensen (QB), Jordan Sullen (CB), Asa Watson (TE), Damian Williams (WR), and Kyle Williams (WR).
- Linebacker Jamar Chaney tried out for the Saints this week, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). We heard yesterday that New Orleans also took a look at veteran linebacker Pat Angerer.