FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons returner Devin Hester, who had a great week of practice, is expecting to be activated by the Falcons later today.
“We’ll probably have some information for you guys later today,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “He had a great week. …you could how hard he worked to push. He had a great week.”
Hester was anticipating getting the green light.
“We are going to let it rip this week and see how we feel in practice and get a thumbs up for the game time,” Hester said on Wednesday.
The Falcons must officially activate Hester and have a Saturday deadline. Quinn had to meet with general manager Thomas Dimitroff in order to decide which player to release.
Quinn has closely watched Hester’s progress daily.
“I thought for the first day of absolutely going for it and all that stuff, he passed that one,” Quinn said before practice on Thursday. “His mindset and quickness, the attitude that he had, looked right on point. Then we want to be careful, the first day into it, the second day into it and third day into it, all the way through the week. For the first part, he passed the test with flying colors.”
Special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong will also have a role in the decision.
“It’s encouraging when you see him out there catching punts and kickoffs and that type of stuff,” Armstrong said. “He’s starting to look a little better.”
The dynamic Hester was placed on the reserved/injured-designated for return (short-term injured reserve) with a nasty turf toe injury on Oct. 6. He has not played this season.
Eric Weems has done a fine job of returning kicks and punts this season for the Falcons.
Weems has 15 kickoff returns for 403 yards (26.9 per carry) with a long of 50 yards. His average of 26.9 is fourth in the league among returners with 15 or more returns.
Weems has 19 punts returns for 221 yards (11.6 per return) with a long of 41 yards. Weems has made 16 catches. His average of 11.6 is second in the league among returns with 19 or more returns. Cleveland’s Travis Benjamin leads the league with an average of 12.4.
While Weems has been strong, Hester, if fully recovered, is considered perhaps the greatest returner of all-time. He could put a charge into the team and fear in the hearts of the Tampa Bay coverage units.
“He’s such a unique player and has the speed, but he’s got to make that transition to see if it can happen fully,” Quinn said.
Hester, formerly of the Chicago Bears, played 2014 with the Falcons.
Last season, he played in 16 games with one start, and had 38 catches for 504 yards and two touchdowns. Hester also led the NFL in yards per punt with 13.3, number of kickoff/punt returns (63), and combined kick and punt yards with 1,368 yards.
“His vision and his ability to get top speed in two steps,” Armstrong said. “He’s flat out explosive. He’s got really good vision. Those are natural traits that obviously you don’t train. He has them. He’s a ball carrier there is no doubt about that.”
The Bucs are coached by Lovie Smith, who drafted Hester, when he was with the Bears.
“I’ve been on the sideline to watch him set about every record that you can set as a returner,” Smith said. “The Atlanta Falcons are a lot better with Devin Hester on the football field. … we’ll have our work cut out playing him.”
The Bucs may kick away from Hester.
“We’ll try to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible,” Smith said. “When he has it in his hands, we need to contain him.”
Armstrong has a high regard for Tampa Bay’s coverage units.
“It’s amazing,” Armstrong said. “They have a bunch of big guys that can run. They’ve got speed at every position. It’s probably the most speed that we’ve seen all year.”
He expects the Bucs will kick it to Hester.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they kick to Hester,” Armstrong said. “They are the fastest cover unit that we’ve seen all year. They are certainly not afraid to cover anybody. I think they punt the ball. (Jacob) Schum has done a nice job placing the ball and hanging it. I think they’ll punt to anybody. With the speed that they have at linebacker, safety and the receivers, as good of a job as they do covering, I don’t see them being afraid to kick to anybody.”
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