Sincerest congratulations to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2021. Charles Woodson, Peyton Manning, Calvin Johnson, Alan Faneca, Tom Flores, John Lynch, Bill Nunn, and Drew Pearson are worthy of induction and enshrinement in Canton.
Now that we’ve taken care of that, the time has come to start banging the drum for Devin Hester’s Hall of Fame candidacy.
Hester’s résumé is ridiculous. And so is his highlight reel:
I didn’t want to wait until after the Super Bowl ends to get it going. Nope. Instead, I want to get it popping right here and now. Because Devin Hester was that damn good. So good, in fact, that he is deserving of a full-scale push toward being a first-ballot Hall of Fame. And you can’t have a full-blown effort without starting it right away. So here goes nothing.
Special teams players are criminally under-represented in Canton. But no one put up numbers like Hester. He scored 19 return touchdowns (14 punts, 5 kicks), and one missed field goal touchdown. Twenty touchdowns for a non-offensive player is darn impressive. When he retired, Hester ranked first in punt return touchdowns and non-offensive scores. His nose for the end zone was unmatched among his peers in the return game. Even when he wasn’t scoring, Hester was flipping the field-position game as he collected the third-most punt return yards and eighth-most total return yards. In the end, Hester finished with three first-team All-Pro nominations and four Pro Bowl appearances. That résumé is STACKED.
Hester is the greatest return man in the history of the world. An ace up the sleeve for Dave Toub’s special teams units. A poet who made magic happen when the ball was in his hands. Always a threat to score. And never a dull moment when he was on the field. Hester was a showman and the greatest entertainer at his position. The Hall of Fame is a museum that tells the story of the history of the NFL. As far as I am concerned, you can’t tell the NFL’s history without including Devin Hester. Full stop. Now, get that man into the Hall.