The quotes, from today’s Waddle and Silvy Show on AM 1000:

“I would love to get back in that situation with the return game,” Hester told “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on WMVP-AM 1000. “But at the same time, I’m a team player so wherever y’all want me to go, I’m ready to do it.”

Hester hasn’t scored a touchdown on a kick or punt return since 2007 after running back 12 for TDs in 2006 and ‘07, including a kickoff return in Super Bowl XLI. He said becoming a full-time receiver has taken its toll.

“I know what I’m best at,” Hester said. “The return game is my bread and butter, so if I had to cut back on receiving and go back to returns, that’s something I would love to do.”

Look, I understand why the Bears moved Hester to receiver: they saw a guy with immense talent in the open field, and tried putting it into their offense. Hester’s not the greatest receiver, but he improved a good amount this year over last. If the Bears had a legit No. 1, Hester is a solid No. 2-, No. 3-type receiver.

But can we honestly say he’s impacting the team more positively as a wide receiver instead of a full-time return man? Tough to say.

On the one hand, the guy was an unbelievable force before he moved to more of a full-time receiver. Teams literally had to work their game plan around how to kick to him. Or they didn’t kick to him at all and booted it out of bounds, and the Bears got better field position because of it. He gave them a better chance to punch the ball in the end zone, because the Bears got great field position on most of their possessions.

So in that sense, you could say even if Hester catches eight balls for 90 yards as a receiver, he might have given the Bears more yards in the return game when he wasn’t a receiver.

But here’s the thing: Hester is still returning the ball. He fieled the Bears’ punts this year. And well, he was rather underwhelming. Johnny Knox and Danieal Manning were solid returners off kickoffs, but Hester wasn’t anything special returning punts. I know Hester isn’t working on special teams as much now that he’s a full-time receiver, but do you all of a sudden just lose the ability to see the field and make decisions with your quickness?

There might be a little more to it, though: a good amount of punts to Hester this season hugged against the sideline; teams used out of bounds as another defender. So team might have figured out Hester a bit more, at least in regards to the punting game.

But on kickoffs, it takes longer for the coverage to get to the return man, and thus, Hester might have more opportunity to strut his stuff there.

By this logic, it seems to make more sense putting Hester on kickoffs and not punts and see what could happen. He could still play receiver in this scenario, just as he did this season with punts.

Yet, even if the Bears do a 180 and put Hester as a full-time return man again, it’s no guarantee he’s going to light the world on fire again. His feats were so remarkable, it’s hard to see him reaching that level again.