Former teammates reflect on Hester as player, person

After setting the NFL record for career kick return touchdowns in a 2010 NFC North-clinching win over the Vikings, Devin Hester was asked in the post-game press conference what it meant to celebrate the moment with his teammates.

Overcome with emotion, Hester’s voice cracked and his eyes welled up with tears. After pausing to compose himself, he said: “I hate sitting here taking all the glory. I wish them other 10 guys were up here and y’all were asking them questions because they deserve to be up here. I love them.”

Throughout his eight seasons with the Bears from 2006-13, the feeling was mutual. Teammates revered Hester—and still do—something that was evident this week when we conducted a virtual roundtable with former Bears safety Chris Harris, receiver Rashied Davis and fullback Jason McKie. All three played with Hester and remain close friends with the record-breaking return specialist.

Here’s what they had to say about the player and the person who is being inducted into the Hall of Fame later this summer:

How much pride did you take in playing with Hester and blocking for him?

Harris: “You had a ton of pride anytime you took the field with Devin because you knew anytime that he got the ball he could take it to the house. It was not if, it was when, so you never wanted to be the guy that didn’t get his block on a return for Devin because you knew how special he was. When you had a guy like Devin—the best to ever do it—you didn’t want to be the weak link.”

Davis: “I took a lot of pride in that. It was fun because you knew every time he touched the ball he could go to the house. Whenever you have a player like that—when they’re as good as Devin not just as a player but as a person and teammate—you want to try to do whatever you can to help them. And after he became ‘Devin Hester, record-breaker,’ you wanted to try to help him break records.”