AL_Royalty 489 Posted October 21, 2013 Devin Hester already had the NFL record for career punt return TD's entering Sunday's matchup against the Redskins. By the time the game was over, he tied another record: Deion Sanders' record of 19 career returns of any kind for TD's. Deion is a HOF'er and widely regarded as the best CB of at least the last 30 years. An argument could be made that the "original shut-down corner" is not surpassed by any CB in history. That being said, it's pretty much a given that Hester is at least the best return man we've ever seen, and probably the best ever. He's got the stats to back it up. Sure, he was faster than everyone for a good portion of his career, but there has always been a fastest player in the game. Only one has done what Hester has as mostly just a specialist player. Deion had INT returns factored into his total, which makes Hester's accomplishment all the more awe-inspiring in my eyes. Hester, at a position that isn't regarded as one of the more important ones in the NFL, has over the years been one of the most important players on his team, regardless of who else was on his team. He's much of this despite spending much of his career being gameplanned away from. he makes game changing plays with guys playing keep-away from Devin. At age 31, he reminded them why that's still a good strategy to employ. With all of that being said, is being the best specialist player ever with a record held by a first ballot HOF'er enough to get Hester into the HOF himself? Is he worthy of being the first specialist ever elected to the pro football HOF? Either way, there is definitely an atta-boy in order for the guy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bucman 891 Posted October 21, 2013 It may be tough for him. Brian Mitchell is still on the outside looking in and he use to hold all sorts of return records. The NFL seems to be slowly removing special teams from the game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oochymp 2,393 Posted October 21, 2013 Ray Guy needs to get into the Hall before Devin Hester, and I'm not advocating putting Guy in Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AL_Royalty 489 Posted October 21, 2013 Ray Guy needs to get into the Hall before Devin Hester, and I'm not advocating putting Guy in There are probably a lot of people who share your sentiment, but myself? Guy was before my time, so I can't speak to how important he was to his team. I can to Hester though, and I really believe he deserves to be in. He's a game changer and as important as any offensive player the Bears have had in the last 20 years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oochymp 2,393 Posted October 22, 2013 Ray Guy needs to get into the Hall before Devin Hester, and I'm not advocating putting Guy in There are probably a lot of people who share your sentiment, but myself? Guy was before my time, so I can't speak to how important he was to his team. I can to Hester though, and I really believe he deserves to be in. He's a game changer and as important as any offensive player the Bears have had in the last 20 years. I can't comment too much on Guy specifically, my comment was directed more to the positions, I don't think a return specialist should get into the hall of fame if punters are held out, just based on the impact on the game, a great kick returner will have probably 5-10 amazing returns in a season, and a handful of great games a season, but they rarely truly change the complexion a game, a great punter can give the opponent a long field almost every time they take the field, and that can really dictate what the opponent can do for the entire game I look at it this way, if I'm game planning for a team that has a great returner the only thing I have to do extra is tell my punter/kickoff guy to kick away from him, but if I'm game planning for a team with a great punter then I'm preparing to need to go further on every drive Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OSUViking 505 Posted October 22, 2013 Returners will still probably break the HOF before punters and kickers because it's a more exciting position for most. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
