INDIANAPOLIS — Bears general manager Phil Emery was as clear as a general manager can be when it came to addressing the future of Devin Hester at the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Field on Thursday. There were no “evaluating” tags attached. “I would say right now, Devin is our returner,” Emery said. “We’re

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INDIANAPOLIS — Bears general manager Phil Emery was as clear as a general manager can be when it came to addressing the future of Devin Hester at the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Field on Thursday.

There were no “evaluating” tags attached.

“I would say right now, Devin is our returner,” Emery said. “We’re looking forward to him working with us in OTA’s and seeing how we come with that throughout the fall and through camp.”

Hester was very emotional after Lovie Smith was fired and talked about retirement and the possible need for a fresh start. Since then, he’s spoken to coach Marc Trestman and special-teams coach Joe DeCamillis.

Hester, 30, has one year remaining on his contract, but is coming off very frustrating season for him personally. He failed to return a kickoff or punt for a touchdown and his decision-making often came into question.

Hester also saw his roles on the Bears’ offense diminish. He finished with 23 catches for 242 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 8.3 yards per punt return and 25.9 yards on kickoff returns.

Emery called Hester “a very versatile athlete,” but didn’t mention receiver as an option when speaking about him. At the moment, Emery simply expects him to remain with the Bears.

“Right now, he is back,” Emery said. “He’ll go out there and compete to be our returner. What he does beyond that depends on how he performs in that first role as a returner.”