Devin Hester has been dubbed the “Windy City Flyer” (I guess he’s the “Hotlanta Flyer” now) and the “greatest return specialist in NFL history.” He also raced a cheetah for “Nat Geo WILD’s Man v. Cheetah.”
But he didn’t have a NFL team since the Bears parted ways with him exactly two weeks ago. It was thought that he would land with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he reunited with his former Coach on the Bears, Lovie Smith. Instead it’s a different NFC South team signing Devin Hester.
According to Vaughn McClure, who moved from the Chicago Tribune to ESPN Atlanta last fall:
the Atlanta Falcons have agreed to terms with kick returner Devin Hester on a three-year contract, the team announced. Hester becomes the fifth free agent to join the Falcons from another team, joining defensive tackle Paul Soliai (Dolphins), defensive end Tyson Jackson (Chiefs), guard Jon Asamoah (Chiefs) and defensive back/returner Javier Arenas (Cardinals).
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
The Devin Hester signing is reminiscent of Eric Metcalf. Again you see a return specialist who made his name with another franchise (in his case the Cleveland Browns) sign with the Falcons later in his career. And Hester can fly. He lives up to his nickname. If you converted the NFL Draft combine times of Devin Hester into miles per hour he would have been at 19 m.p.h.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on multiple news talk radio stations. The former NBC Chicago and Washington Times contributor has also been featured on the History Channel.