Column: Devin Hester is the Hall of Fame first primary kick returner, and will never truly be replicated
Devin Hester's second kickoff return for touchdown against St Louis in his rookie season is exactly when he elevated himself into rarified air.
Well, it was Bears play-by-play Jeff Joniak who elevated Hester with a single adjective.
"Devin Hester," Joniak called as Hester was on his way for his second kick return touchdown of the night, "you are ridiculous."
Not good. Not great. Ridiculous.
On Saturday, as Hester became the first-ever primarily return man to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"I hope that me being here today opens up the door and brings some attention to other guys like Brian Mitchell and Josh Cribbs," Hester said in his speech. "Because I'm not the only returner who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I'm just the first."
Hester changed the game. Not only was he the first return man to be inducted into the hall, he retired owning 11 NFL records.
What Hester did will never be replicated. In large part because of the kick return rule changes that have befallen the NFL.
Make no mistake, though. Hester was one of a kind for a reason, and that showed in his NFL record 20 combined return touchdowns and an impact on the game when, at times, he was far away from the ball.
The electricity of his return skills reverberated with two multi-return touchdown games in his first two years. Hester also recalled how excitement behind that return game wasn't commonly shared.
"When I first exploded on the professional scene, there was a lot of negativity because people didn't respect the return game," Hester said in his Hall of Fame speech on Saturday. "But eventually, they put in this new rule and started taking the return game seriously."
How ridiculous was Hester? Kickoff rules began to change, most recently with some drastic changes inspired by the XFL that don't allow kick off and return teams to begin blocking or pursuing the football until the return man touches the ball.
Before that, the NFL moved the kick off line up five yards.
The idea was that the rule would eliminate needless contact and reduce concussions. What it did was reduce the kick off return.
"They put in a new rule — which was called, you guys know, the Devin Hester Rule — to move the kick-off up," Hester said. "Kickers could kick it out of the end zone, which eliminated me getting a lot of returns."
Hester wasn't wrong, but was more tame about the rule change now than he was in 2011 when he was straightforward when discussing the 2011 rule change with the Chicago Tribune.
"It’s just showing the NFL that moving the line up five yards didn’t budge things a bit," Hester told the Tribune. "They got a couple touchbacks but you’ve still got guys bringing it out and at the end of the day that rule is pointless. It’s not going to prevent concussions because guys are bringing it out five to eight yards deep in the end zone. We’re still coming out with it. And that’s taking away from some of the fun in the NFL because guys are going to bring it out regardless."
He was right. Guys still took the ball out of the end zone. So did Hester, and that's why he set these 11 NFL records:
- Career combined special teams return touchdowns
- Career non-offensive touchdowns
- Career kickoff and punt return touchdowns
- Career punt return touchdowns
- Punt return touchdowns in a single season
- Kickoff return touchdowns in a game
- Combined return touchdowns in a single season,
- Combined return touchdowns by a rookie in a single season
- Combined return touchdowns in a single-game (twice)
- Non-offensive touchdowns in a single season (twice) and
- The fastest Touchdown in Super Bowl history (14 seconds)
Steve McMichael's Chicago Bears teammates share admiration in Mongo's Hall of Fame induction
With friends and loved ones on hand, Mongo's teammates shared their admiration on a day that was bittersweet but still contained plenty of joy.
Coincidentally, Hester, the player who changed the game with his return skills, was on hand in Canton to see a first look at the NFL's new kick return rules.
He wasn't terribly impressed.
"Hey, it’s the first game," Hester said during the Hall of Fame game on Thursday. "I figure a lot of coaches are going to evaluate this game and try to figure out what they can do to get some more big plays. But right now, it’s kinda shaky right now. But who knows? The first game. We’ll see."
If the new rules hamper the return game, there's no chance Hester's kick return records are touched. If players can exploit these new rules and score more often, Hester's era is looked upon more favorably as a time frame where it was much more difficult to return a kick for a score.
Let alone the opening kick of a Super Bowl 92 yards for the only opening kick of a Super Bowl returned for a touchdown.
As the rules change, it will never change the perception in how ridiculous Hester was. If he wasn't returning kicks for a score, punters and kickers were doing everything they could to avoid him, giving the Bears better field position in the process.
The Bears were the catalyst that let the best return man in the history of the game lean into his game-changing ways.
"You didn't know what you were getting yourself into," Hester said of the Bears. "But, you believed that you had something special coming your way."
It wasn't just special.
It was ridiculous.