Jay Cutler was “the worst” when it came to leadership, former Bears star Devin Hester told Bleacher Report’s “Untold Stories.”
“He’s the best quarterback when it comes to accuracy, power, knowledge of the game — the best quarterback, hands down, I’ve ever played with ...” he told host Master Tesfatsion. “Now when it comes to leadership? The worst. ... He don’t know how to communicate. He don’t know how to get his teammates involved.”
Cutler and Hester’s fractured relationship — particularly when it came to the latter serving as a receiver — was never a secret.
A star returner, Hester said he believed he’d be one of the Bears’ top receivers when he signed his first contract extension with the team. He claimed Cutler played favorites, though.
“He’s not really a sociable guy,” Hester said. “He’s not a talker. He picks one or two guys and he leashes on them and separates them from everybody.”
He told a story about how, one day before practice, Bears receiver Brandon Marshall warmed up with Cutler and praised him, saying he helped make the quarterback’s career.
Hester became so convinced that Cutler would choose to throw to Marshall during that practice that, he said, he made defensive end Julius Peppers a bet: Peppers would pay him $50 every time Marshall caught a pass, and Hester would pay Peppers $100 for every completion to anyone else on the team.
The bet got called off, he claimed after Cutler threw 21 straight passes to Marshall. Hester said he was frustrated that coaches didn’t step in.
“Ain’t nobody said nothing,” he said. “That’s what really pissed me off.”
Hester retired after the 2016 season as the greatest returner of all time. With the Bears, though, he never became a receiving star, catching 217 balls for 2,807 yards over eight seasons.
