After holding strong for two days, the Chicago Bears’ offense caved and reported to camp.
The wide receiver arrived at training camp happy teammates reported at breakfast this morning, in time for a morning weightlifting session and today’s 3 p.m. practice.
Hester shows up after accruing roughly $30,000 in fines for missing two days of practice.
“It’s time for me to take a stand,” he told the Sun-Times Tuesday in explaining his absence. “We’re going to stand by our decision to do this and we feel like this can go down to whenever in the season or the end of the season. No matter what.”
There was a change of heart between then and now, and this puts Hester in position to compete for a starting job as a receiver. He was slated to work with the first team on Wednesday and will not be far behind now. Teammates and coaches were understanding of his position as he’s scheduled to earn $445,000 this season. General manager Jerry Angelo spoke with Hester’s agent Eugene Parker on Thursday and expressed that he didn’t want Hester to feel slighted that the club got a slew of contracts done and not his, that it remained a top priority for the club.
Hold out two days and lose $30,000. I’m no math major but that doesn’t sound like it was a wise move for Hester. But surely the team will eat that fine and get the lad a new deal.
