The curious Hall of Fame case of Devin Hester, who dominated his position like no one else... and who doesn't really fit in today's game. As HOF voters weigh a new class, Hester—and tons of his peers—thinks he should be a first-ballot inductee:
. Each team lined up a 10-man side deep in the returning team’s own end, and they couldn’t move until the return man possessed the ball.
Hester “is the GOAT to me,” says Dante Hall, the man who himself earned the nickname “The Human Joystick” for his return prowess: six punt return TDs and six more on kickoffs between 2002 and ’07. “Obviously he has the numbers, but his vision and his ability to read blocking and make cuts—and the speed. I called it: He would be in second gear, third gear, take it to fifth, back to fourth. He was made to return kicks.
Hester is not the guy you might expect if you only remember his highlights or his Deion impersonation, high-stepping his way into the end zone. He’s not loud or braggadocious. Toub calls him “soft-spoken.” Sanders says “laid-back, kinda shy.” But Hester is firm when asked about his place in history.And as he explains why, the conversation drifts away from the incredible things everyone saw him do to the incredible things we. The great mystery of Hester’s career.
Brian Mitchell, a three-time All-Pro over 14 seasons with Washington, Philadelphia and the New York Giants, has a message for any voters who don’t think special-teamers play enough snaps to warrant consideration: “It’s the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” he says, “not the Offense and Defense Hall of Fame.” And he’s happy to speak at length on the emphasis coaches famously put on “all three phases of the game.
“I think he should be in the Hall,” says Metcalf. “In my own selfish right, I hope he does, because then it sheds light on people like myself. People see that special teams players are really football players. People might look at me differently.” He relished his role, often getting to set the tone before the offense ever took the field. He describes his teams holding hyped-up promotions where fans could win a car if Mitchell returned the opening or post-halftime kick for a touchdown—and he says it paid out more than once.
“We have a guy on the football team—Devin Hester, myself, whoever—and he’s one of your best football players,” he says, “and now the rules have taken him out of the game.” The whole thing, Devin says, has been “a little overwhelming. It’s a lot. The closer it gets, with narrowing the list down and the phone calls. At the same time, you embrace it, because it’s something you’ve been wanting to happen all your life.”
“Offensive coordinators are finding a solution to put the ball in the best players’ hands,” he says, pointing to players like Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Cordarrelle Patterson.
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