[CBFF] ESPN - Hester earns perfect speed rating in Madden '08

[Jerry Madsen]

Updated: April 5, 2007, 4:35 PM ET


Devin Hester: Maximum Speed

It's long been rumored, it's been hinted at, it's been lobbied for,
and it's been perennially denied -- but now, an NFL player has finally
achieved the near-impossible: meriting a perfect 100 in one of Madden
NFL's proprietary skills ratings.

Chicago return man Devin Hester has attained perfection in the "Speed"
category, gaining the maximum 100 rating in the upcoming Madden NFL 08
for his amazing wheels. Hester, who set an NFL single-season record
with six returns for touchdowns in his rookie campaign of 2006, has
been known as the "Windy City Flyer" for his unique ability to turn on
the afterburners and bring a kick back for six points. His 100 rating
tops the previous high of 99, given to such players as Deion Sanders,
Randy Moss, Charles Woodson, and a couple others.

Hester racked up his six scores on three punt returns, two kick
returns and an incredible 108-yard return of a missed field goal
attempt against the New York Giants. Additionally, he took the opening
kickoff of Super Bowl XLI 92 yards for a score, making him the first
player ever to open the Super Bowl with a touchdown on the very first
kick.

Hester has been known to have been lobbying members of the Madden NFL
08 development team for the top speed rating. He's certainly deserving
of the honor; after all, there's pure speed and then there's football
speed, which measures how fast a player can go weighed down with pads
and equipment while 11 men on the other team try to bring him down. As
he showed many times during his breakout rookie season, Hester's
football speed is top-notch, and now Madden NFL 08 will pay him the
ultimate respect by giving him a perfect rating in that category.

"That's just about the best thing you could have told me," Hester said
with a huge smile, when informed of his new Speed rating. "It's an
honor -- I don't know what to say, really."

How does he feel about being rated higher than his friend and mentor
"Neon" Deion Sanders, who was once timed at 4.19 in the forty-yard
dash and returned a kick or two in his day? "Deion has told me a bunch
of times that I was as fast as he was," Hester replied diplomatically.

As fast as he is, the return man -- who also plays cornerback for the
Bears -- still has some room for improvement in other areas, but like
most NFL players that also play Madden, when we inquired about some of
his other ratings, he was less than satisfied. "Well, since you're
asking, my defensive awareness was low -- too low," he said, "and I
definitely need to break more tackles. On a few of my returns last
year I feel like I showed what I can do in that category."

Hester will just have to live with those "subpar" ratings for now, and
really, the Breaking Tackles rating may not mean much in the end --
with a 100 Speed rating, who is going to catch him in the first place?

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