Devin Hester, a Hall of Famer?

On the flip side, the Bears are as committed to special teams as any team in the league. They make having quality special teams players a priority. Not just returners and kickers, but blockers and coverage guys too.

As amazing as Hester has been, he also had some spectacular special-teams blocking during his first two years in the league. I've never been sure how much of it is him and how much of it is the system.

 

Where do you see rage?

 

Whoa, calm down there, dude. This is a friendly discussion. Let's keep it professional.

 

my posts are so full of rage

 

Both, probably. After all, Danieal Manning acquitted himself nicely on kickoff returns when Hester wasn't making so many of them. I brought up the Colts in jest because that's a team notorious for practically paying no attention to special teams, at least outside the kicker and punter.

However, I'm not sure, even with Manning's success, that you could have put anyone back there, and they would do as well as Hester.

 

Or Reggie Bush, taken second overall.

Obviously, in hindsight, neither player should have been taken that high. If you're going to draft a receiver or a running back in the first round, he had better be capable of being an every-down player. I think teams thought Bush was so special that he deserved to be taken that high. It's easy to say he was a reach, but almost every team in the league thought he was a top five player at the time.

Ginn was just a colossal reach to be taken that high.

 

I'll take the contrary on this.

Hester just set the all-time punt return for touchdown record. He broke a stalemate with Eric Metcalf. Is Metcalf in the HOF? No

Did Hester get the record in a little more than half the amount of returns than Metcalf? Yes, however, Metcalf got one very late in his career. He got to nine in about 250 catches...that is closer to Hester.

Hester now has 15 touchdowns on returns for his career. Game changing yes, but in perspective that is less in his career than luminaries such as Karim Abdul Jabbar, Pete Banaszak, Dan Reeves, Lamar Smith, Greg Bell, Abner Haynes and Terry Allen got in single seasons running and catching. So were they game changers?

And others guys with high return td records...Dante Hall with 12, Josh Cribbs with 10, Brian Mitchell with 13. He is is not Babe Ruth out there by miles.

Is he the best return man in NFL history? Likely. Does that mean he is a HOFer? No.

 

He had one against the Broncos that is one of the best I've ever seen.

 

I think what we need to see is if he puts the touchdown record so far out of reach that no one will touch it. It is not inconceivable that he never returns another touchdown. Such is the nature of returning. It is also not inconceivable he returns 10 more.

 

You have to measure them as marginal touchdowns. 15 touchdowns from a running back? Depending on how and when he got them, they may have been touchdowns you were probably going to get anyway.

6 touchdowns from kick returns in a season? Teams can go a decade without even getting one.

 

He's a rageaholic.
JC is addicted to rageahol!

 

No more ridiculous than your posts on this thread.