HOF or FOH: Devin Hester

[Bow to Royalty]

I see. Well, I get what you're saying. If you had enough slots that you could have a dedicated returner, then I'd agree with him. If your roster size was limited to the point that you had to make one of your other players do double duty, then I'd agree with you that there are other players that would be better choices. Still even in that case, you could make an argument for Hester. I mean if you got a team with Jerry Rice and Randy Moss on it. Your number 3 WR doesn't have to be great, so having someone like Hester who was a decent receiver and the best return man of all time wouldn't be crazy.

I hear that, but I'd rather have AB or Tyreek Hill added to my WR group (and be my returner) with Rice and Moss than have Hester.

Also let's quantify Hester because y'all are overhyping his impact. He had 19 return TD's in 11 seasons.

11 came in his first 2 years, then he had 8 in the next 9 years. Why we acting like he was just single handedly wrecking teams?

He'd have like 2 punt returns attempted per game. Stop overstating his impact. I respect what he did, but I'm not gonna overhype it.

 

[Disanthrope]

Crazy that Hester can get into a place where Jerry Rice, Barry Sanders and Deion Sanders are.



He don’t belong with them dudes IMO

Why can't he simply be in as a Returner the way Vince Lombardi is as a coach?

 

[Disanthrope]

I hear that, but I'd rather have AB or Tyreek Hill added to my WR group (and be my returner) with Rice and Moss than have Hester.

Also let's quantify Hester because y'all are overhyping his impact. He had 19 return TD's in 11 seasons.

11 came in his first 2 years, then he had 8 in the next 9 years. Why we acting like he was just single handedly wrecking teams?

He'd have like 2 punt returns attempted per game. Stop overstating his impact. I respect what he did, but I'm not gonna overhype it.

The THREAT was there for 11 years

The opponents FEAR was there for 11 years

 

[The Lonious Monk]

Yes the hell he did. Every returner goes damn near half the season without doing things in games lol


and no. The bears went to the Super Bowl because of their defense and solid run game.


Just stop

lol Bruh, you don't know what you're talking about. The year the Bears went to the SB, Hester played every single game. He was a dedicated return man.

He had 1000+ return yards that season. One RB had more rushing yards and no WR had more receiving yards.

Hester had 5 TDs. 2 RBs had 6 TDs, 2 WRs had 6 TDs, and 1 WR had 5 TDs.

Basically, Hester's offensive production was right up there with the RBs and WRs on the team. Hell, if what you said was true and he went half the season without doing anything, then that means he did as much as the RBs and WRs on that team while only playing half the games. That goes to show you how big of an impact he made.

 

[The Lonious Monk]

I hear that, but I'd rather have AB or Tyreek Hill added to my WR group (and be my returner) with Rice and Moss than have Hester.

Also let's quantify Hester because y'all are overhyping his impact. He had 19 return TD's in 11 seasons.

11 came in his first 2 years, then he had 8 in the next 9 years. Why we acting like he was just single handedly wrecking teams?

He'd have like 2 punt returns attempted per game. Stop overstating his impact. I respect what he did, but I'm not gonna overhype it.

Again, I've said this whole time, that it wasn't just about TDs. It's also about field starting position. He was averaging almost 30 yards a game on punt returns at one point. That means a lot when you have a sorry ass offense that needs every yard it can get.

 

[BDP™️]

Hell, The Saints Kicker Will Lutz have more impact in games than Hester ever had and he’s not going to the HOF.

Stop you just trolling now smh

 

[Bow to Royalty]

Again, I've said this whole time, that it wasn't just about TDs. It's also about field starting position. He was averaging almost 30 yards a game on punt returns at one point. That means a lot when you have a sorry ass offense that needs every yard it can get.

He wasn't though. He averaged about 2 returns a game each season it looks like, and somewhere around 10 yards/return.

 

[Dwayne]

Stop you just trolling now smh

I’m not. We can go toe to toe. He literally just won a game for us single handed. Hitting 4 FGs and the game winner in OT

And the wind was over 12 MPHs the entire day.

 

[Bow to Royalty]

Are we looking at a huge career, or a huge start? Like I said over half his career return TD's and over 1/3 of his career punt return yards were in his first 2 seasons. I don't think he had this huge difference making career.

Would we let anyone else into the HOF when their career numbers are that reliant on their first 2 seasons?

 

[Bow to Royalty]

Nigga please!

Like he can't be WR 4 or 5 and live. Stop

I don't think I was clear in what I was saying. That's my fault. Ya, Hester definitely deserved to be on NFL rosters. I was going off what you said of building 2 all-time teams to go against each other. With a normal size roster Hester shouldn't be on anyone's all-time team with a 53 player roster.

 

[SeaSnake]

On another note I want sh Percy Harvin played longer that nigga was nasty and fast af.

 

[The Lonious Monk]

He wasn't though. He averaged about 2 returns a game each season it looks like, and somewhere around 10 yards/return.

View attachment 393073

Meh, you're right I was looking at the kick returns for the ~30 yards that year. Still, you're kinda proving the point I was making. He basically averaged around 4 plays a game, and in the end put up yards and TD's comparable to the top RBs and WRs. That's a high level of efficiency.

At the end of the day, I used to watch those Bears games. They were basically battles of field position because the CHI defense was good and the offense was bad. When their team basically went the whole game barely making it past mid-field and then suddenly in crunch time the get a return to 50 yd line, that makes a difference even though it won't really show up on the stat sheet. That kinda thing happened quite a few times over Hester's first three years when he was a dedicated receiver.

 

[Bow to Royalty]

Meh, you're right I was looking at the kick returns for the ~30 yards that year. Still, you're kinda proving the point I was making. He basically averaged around 4 plays a game, and in the end put up yards and TD's comparable to the top RBs and WRs. That's a high level of efficiency.

At the end of the day, I used to watch those Bears games. They were basically battles of field position because the CHI defense was good and the offense was bad. When their team basically went the whole game barely making it past mid-field and then suddenly in crunch time the get a return to 50 yd line, that makes a difference even though it won't really show up on the stat sheet. That kinda thing happened quite a few times over Hester's first three years when he was a dedicated receiver.

Ya, but with so few touches it's not a big impact on the game. This feels like Vick. Are you mostly remembering highlights or a good couple seasons instead of looking at his whole career? He was killin em in 06 and 07, but he was in the league until 2016.

 

[The Lonious Monk]

Ya, but with so few touches it's not a big impact on the game. This feels like Vick. Are you mostly remembering highlights or a good couple seasons instead of looking at his whole career? He was killin em in 06 and 07, but he was in the league until 2016.

Yeah, his high level play as a returner was short lived, but that's partially because he was asked to do double time as a WB. While he was a WB, his return game suffered. When he asked to go back to being strictly a return man, he bounced back. If we talking about HoF, my argument is that he deserves to be in because he's pretty much universally considered to be the best returner ever. Talking about putting him on the best team, I wouldn't say that he should be a top pick, but I do believe there are team scenarios where he'd be a good pick.

 

[Maywood]

 

[5 Grand]

If we're picking 53 players + 53 players to make two all-time teams to play each other, I could see Hester getting picked early. After you've picked your QBs, RBs, and Wide Recievers/Tight Ends, then your defensive/offensive linemen and a few defensive backs, I could see Hester getting picked between 20-25th. Also a good FG kicker.

 

[Bow to Royalty]

If we're picking 53 players + 53 players to make two all-time teams to play each other, I could see Hester getting picked early. After you've picked your QBs, RBs, and Wide Recievers/Tight Ends, then your defensive/offensive linemen and a few defensive backs, I could see Hester getting picked between 20-25th. Also a good FG kicker.

WTFFFFF is going on in here? @Dwayne we the only ones in here not crazy about Hester? He's in here getting chosen over Patrick Peterson, and getting taken top 25 on people's all-time roster.

Like 75% of kickoffs aren't returned. And he may return 1 - 3 punts a game. So he may only get around 4 touches/game. But you're gonna pick him up over a starter, or before getting any depth?

I mean this is crazy to me. Here are his kickoff return numbers. They'll give you 25 yards just for not attempting a return!

 

[The Lonious Monk]

WTFFFFF is going on in here? @Dwayne we the only ones in here not crazy about Hester? He's in here getting chosen over Patrick Peterson, and getting taken top 25 on people's all-time roster.

Like 75% of kickoffs aren't returned. And he may return 1 - 3 punts a game. So he may only get around 4 touches/game. But you're gonna pick him up over a starter, or before getting any depth?

I mean this is crazy to me. Here are his kickoff return numbers. They'll give you 25 yards just for not attempting a return!

View attachment 394761

lol You're acting like every kick-off goes to the back of the endzone. On average if he's catching the ball on the 10-15 yd line, the offense was starting at the around the 30-40 yd line. For a team with a bad offense, that's big. Chicago relied on FGs a lot, so that starting position was basically everything to them. Again, in those first couple years, Hester was putting up more yards than almost all the RBs and WRs.

I'm not saying he's top 25 or should be a first pick on any team. I agree those are silly statements, but you're really underselling his contribution. He pretty much maximized the benefit that a team can get from the return position. I mean just consider what kinda offensive numbers we would have seen from a team that got that kinda field starting position and had a good offense.

 

[Dwayne]

lol You're acting like every kick-off goes to the back of the endzone. On average if he's catching the ball on the 10-15 yd line, the offense was starting at the around the 30-40 yd line. For a team with a bad offense, that's big. Chicago relied on FGs a lot, so that starting position was basically everything to them. Again, in those first couple years, Hester was putting up more yards than almost all the RBs and WRs.

I'm not saying he's top 25 or should be a first pick on any team. I agree those are silly statements, but you're really underselling his contribution. He pretty much maximized the benefit that a team can get from the return position. I mean just consider what kinda offensive numbers we would have seen from a team that got that kinda field starting position and had a good offense.

Lmao. No kick was at the 10-15 yard line. That kicker would lose his jobs if that’s what he was doing

 

[The Lonious Monk]

Lmao. No kick was at the 10-15 yard line. That kicker would lose his jobs if that’s what he was doing

You right. I keep reading and writing kick-offs and thinking kicks in general. Games have at least 2 kick-offs but there are usually more punts, so you get quite a few kicks every game. My point is that field position matters, and a good returner will give you better field position. That's important when you're team's offense isn't very good.