Is G.O.A.T. Return Specialist Devin Hester Gaining or Losing Momentum?

When Devin Hester last year became eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he zoomed through the list of 15 finalists much as he zoomed through punt and kick coverages during his 11-year NFL career.

He made the first cut to the Top 10, unheard of for a return specialist ... and positively insane for a return specialist in his first year of eligibility.

Now he's back for a second run at Canton, with the results of the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame's Class of 2023 announced Thursday night on the NFL Honors Show. So the question before us is: Will he advance into the top five and be inducted?

Unknown at this point. What we do know is that he's generally regarded as the top punt return specialist and top overall return specialist of all time. 

Even fans of both Rick Upchurch and Billy "White Shoes" Johnson would probably agree. Upchurch and Johnson were big-time return specialists with Hall-of-Fame credentials, as the record shows:

-- Upchurch was the first-team returner on the 1970s' all-decade team and Johnson was the same for the 1980s.

-- Johnson led the NFL in punt-return average in 1975 and 1977 and Upchurch in 1976, '78, and '82. Johnson was first-team All-Pro in 1975, '77, and '83. Upchurch held the same honor in 1976, '78, '79, and ]82.

-- For his career, Johnson averaged 11.7 yards on punt returns and Upchurch 12.1. Johnson took six punts to the house and Upchurch eight.

-- Combined, they had 14 touchdown returns.

Fourteen. But that's how many Devin Hester had alone, four more than anyone else on the all-time list.

A punt return for a touchdown is extremely hard to achieve, so having four more than the next guy is impressive. By comparison, on kickoff returns the all-time leader, Cordarrelle Patterson, is ahead of the next career leader by a single touchdown.

So it's close.  With Hester's total, it's not.

In total kick/punt returns for scores, it's the same narrative. Hester has 19. The next closest is Brian Mitchell with 14.

Now, is Hester the best kickoff returner of all-time? No. That would be someone else. But he was a great kick-returner nonetheless. First, he ran back five kickoffs for touchdowns, which is the most important number for returners. It's what makes them threats to opposing teams and nightmares to opposing coaches. 

Only eight players in NFL history have more kickoff returns for TDs than Hester (he's tied for ninth).

Second, it's how Hester achieved his numbers. This can only be proven through the eye test, not by what's on a piece of paper. Teams avoided kicking the ball to him for much of his career, launching dribble kicks, directional kicks, semi-squib kicks, you name it.

When watching Bears games, many times Hester would have to pick the ball up at, say, the 5-or-8-yard lines and try to make gains with just a fraction less time than if he fielded the ball in the air.

This happened on kickoffs far more than punts for the simplest of reasons: To deal with a dominant punt returner you resort to hang time, kicking the ball near a sideline or kicking it out of bounds. You can't kick out of bounds on a kickoff because it's a penalty. Plus, adding additional hang time is tougher on a kickoff than a punt.

So the way to deal with a dominant kick returner is via a touchback or breaking his routine by making him chase or field a ball ..anything to allow your coverage to get closer to him than on a normal kickoff. 

That is what happened scores of times with Hester.

There is little doubt that Hester was an extraordinary game-changer and that kicking to him too often was risky. All things considered, it is reasonable to believe he's the G.O.A.T. of return guys overall when taking into account the volume of kicks. There are some players decades ago with higher averages, but they didn't return punts and kicks as a specialty; they did it as part of their overall jobs in an era that didn't employ specialists.

And there's the rub.

Will voters ever choose a player who was just a returner? It's a philosophical question. I'm not talking about which returner gets into the Hall of Fame first but if a return specialist should be in the Hall of Fame at all.

That specialist question was answered in terms of kickers and punters when kicker Jan Stenerud was inducted in 1991. Punter Ray Guy and Morten Andersen, another kicker, followed suit over 20 years later, and it's presumed that Adam Vinatieri will join them at some point.

But a returner? One who was not a Gale Sayers or Jack Christiansen? Those are two players who would be in the Hall of Fame even if they were not tremendous return men.

With Hester, he wouldn't. 

He was not a star at defensive back or as a receiver, though for a few years he averaged about 40 catches, 500 yards and three touchdowns a year in that role. It wasn't great, but it wasn't a failure, either.

No, it's clear Hester is a finalist for the second consecutive year as a specialist alone, much as "White Shoes" Johnson and Rick Upchurch would have been had they gotten a shot. Both were so-so receivers, averaging similar receiving numbers per year as Hester, and they were never finalists.

Asking if a return specialist is worthy of a Gold Jacket is a debate that voters may have for more than two years ... depending on what happens Thursday evening.