Is Devin Hester a Hall Of Famer?

As of right now, I say NO.  Without a doubt he is the greatest return man in the history of the game, but this does not equate to being Hall of Fame worthy. It’s hard for someone to make it as a special team player into the hall.  Take a guess at how many guys that were just special team players are in the hall... if you said one you are right.  The only player that was a special team’s player is Jan Stenerud; he was a place kicker who played 18 years. He scored 1,699 points, had a 66.8% success rate at kicking field goals and 96.5% on extra points. 

It is hard for a special teamer into make it to the hall.  For the simple fact they are on the field for so few plays a game.  Last year Marc Mariani had the most Kick Returns in the NFL with 60 over a course of a season; that is an average of 3.75 times a game. Tramon Williams lead the NFL in punt returns with 41 over a course of a season; that is an average of 2.56 times a game. 

Now these are both the top return guys from each category, not taking into account times when they did not return the ball.  However, it gives a general idea of the number of plays that they were on the field.  Taking the numbers and combining them leads to 101 plays on the field.  I’ll add the top number of fair catchers on punts, which was 21 last years.  So the total now stands at 122 plays in a season or 7.63 plays a game.

I understand that the number of kick/punt returns is not comparable to the number of plays on offense but it puts things into perspective.

Last year the team that ran the most plays during the course of the season was the Atlanta Falcons, who ran 1,097 plays on offense.  Which comes to an average of 68.56 plays a game.  Taking the team that ran the least amount of plays it comes out to 56.69 plays a game, the Titans ran the least plays a game a total 907 plays last year. 

Last year in the NFL there were a total of 32,319 offense plays ran. This is an average of 1,009.97 plays a team for the year and 63.12 play a game for each team.

Now looking at the average plays per game 63.12 and the average number of kick/punt returns a game 7.63; it takes 8.27 games for a kick/punt returner to equal the number of plays that a member of the offense is on the field for a single game.  So it takes almost a whole year for a kick/punt returner to play the equivalent number of plays that a member of the offense participates in during the course of two games.  As a result, takes a returner eight years to participate in the same number of plays as an offensive player does in one year.

Throughout Hester’s career he has returned 128 kicks and 189 punts, in 83 total games.  His combined total return is 3.8 per game, when adding his 52 fair catches it comes to 4.45 a game. Just last year Hester averaged 3.4 return-plays a game, including fair catches.  He had a total of 55 returns and fair catches.

The Bears had a total of 936 plays last year on offense. That comes out to 60.19 plays a game.  Hester only had 55 total returns last year, so he did not even play a full game based on the average number of plays the Bears had per game.

This year the Bears through seven games are averaging, 60.14 plays a game on offense. While Hester is averaging 4.42 returns a game.  He has played one half of football so far this season, as he has been involved in 31 total plays.

I understand that Hester has an impact on the game, on more than just his returns.  Some teams elect to kick the ball out of bounds on a punt instead of kicking it to him.  Also, fin the battle for field position they can flip the field advantage to their respective team.  A long return can spark a team even if it is not a touchdown.

Now Hester owns many records as a return man, he owns the career total kick/punt return for touchdown record for returns with 16.  When all is said and done he will most likely own the record for more returns for touchdowns, this includes all type of returns (punts, kicks, missed field goals, fumbles, and interceptions).

I think for Hester to make the Hall of Fame, based just on his special team accomplishments, he needs to end his career with about 25-30 returns for touchdowns.  This is going to be very hard to do, if not impossible. Another way Hester can make the Hall of Fame is if he improves himself as a wide receiver.

Now realistically Hester can improve as a wide receiver as he is still just learning to play the position. There are only a few receivers in the league that have been playing the position shorter then Hester. He is only in his fifth year playing wide receiver.  Hester will never be a number one receiver however; he can be a good slot receiver. There is no other player in the league that can run with him in the open field.  If you think there is watch his punt/kick returns, the cuts he makes and his vision are unbelievable.   

The biggest problem is that the Bears have no receivers, so Hester is made to play on the outside.  This is a problem for him because he can’t use his skill set, because he is easily jammed, due to his small stature.  It is much harder to jam a slot receiver, which would allow Hester to get off the ball clean.  His best game this year came when he played the slot the most against the Vikings, where he had five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.

If Hester can somehow get to around 8,000 yards and 50 touchdowns as a receiver I think he has a great chance to make the Hall of Fame if he does not return another kick for a touchdown.  However, Hester would need 5,496 more yards to get to 8,000 and 37 more touchdowns to get to 50.  Can he do it? I am not sure, but I would love to see it happen.