Road to Canton: Voters detail why Hester deserves Hall of Fame induction
Story by Larry Mayer
Every month leading up to Devin Hester's Hall of Fame induction Aug. 3, ChicagoBears.com chronicles a different aspect of his illustrious career. In the fifth of a five-part series, senior writer Larry Mayer speaks to Hall of Fame voters about the process and why they felt Hester is worthy of enshrinement in Canton.
Devin Hester was a unicorn both as a player and a Hall of Fame candidate.
No one else in NFL history has returned as many kicks for touchdowns as the former Bears star or entered the Hall of Fame primarily as a return specialist.
"Hall of Famers have to be defined by greatness, and for Devin Hester, greatness to me was a pretty easy definition.” Vic Carucci, Buffalo’s representative on the Hall of Fame's Selection Committee
With no precedent, Hester's candidacy presented a challenge to Hall of Fame voters.
"That did make it unique and special, but he transcends special teams," said Mary Kay Cabot, an at-large member of the Hall of Fame's 50-person Selection Committee. "In my mind, it was really a no-brainer after having watched him all those years. You really can't talk about the NFL without talking about Devin Hester. He changed the game. He changed the return game. He was the best at what he does, a cut above the rest, and it really wasn't a hard decision."
Hester was named one of 15 modern-era finalists in each of his first three years of eligibility. But he fell short twice before being voted in as part of the Class of 2024.
"Guys who make their mark on special teams often don't get to that point," said USA Today's Jarrett Bell, the Washington, D.C., representative of the Selection Committee. "He was so good, so much better than anybody in history at what he did—and it still took three years for him to get in. But the fact that we voted him in as a finalist right off the bat and he came back the next couple years was evidence of his greatness."
The Selection Committee consists of one media representative from each NFL city with two from New York and Los Angeles because they both have two teams. A 33rd member is a representative of the Pro Football Writers of America and there are 17 at-large delegates.
The Selection Committee reduces a list of 15 modern-era finalists to 10 and then votes on those 10, with candidates needing 80% of the vote to be inducted.
Longtime pro football writer Dan Pompei, the Chicago representative on the Selection Committee, felt that Hester was knocking on the door of the Hall of Fame in 2022 when he remained on the list of candidates when it was reduced from 15 to 10. But that confidence waned a bit in 2023 when Hester failed to reach the final 10.
"There were some vocal critics in the room," said Pompei, who presents the cases of all Chicago players who become finalists to the Selection Committee. "I was kind of taken aback by it. Some of the talk was about how he didn't have the same number of [touches] that all these other players had because he was a special-teams player."
"The challenge with specialists is the minimal amount of time they are on the field compared with position players," said Vic Carucci, Buffalo's representative on the Selection Committee. "That is always held against them. But I believe as voters you have to take into account the impact that specialists make with those limited opportunities. How much do they influence the outcome of the game or strategies by opponents to curtail their talent? And with Devin, I thought that was the easiest argument to make in his favor, that he was a field-tilting kind of player."
Hester was all that and more. Selected by the Bears in the second round of the 2006 draft out of Miami, he was voted to three Pro Bowls, won 13 special teams player of the week awards and was named to the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 2000s.
The Florida native set an NFL single-season record with five kick return touchdowns as a rookie in 2006 and then eclipsed the mark with six TDs in 2007. He capped his remarkable rookie season by becoming the first player in NFL history to return the opening kickoff of a Super Bowl for a touchdown, dashing 92 yards against the Colts.
In 2007, Hester returned four punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns. In a 37-34 overtime win over the Broncos, he scored TDs on a 75-yard punt return and 88-yard kickoff return. Hester returned three punts for scores in 2010, two punts and one kickoff for TDs in 2011 and one punt for a touchdown in 2013. He remains the Bears' all-time leader in punt return yards (3,241), kickoff return yards (5,504), total kick return yards (8,745), punt returns (264) and kickoff returns (222).
"With him, you were almost holding your breath. You didn’t want to miss the kickoff or a punt, just anticipating that every kick could be the kick that he returns all the way." Jarrett Bell
Pompei detailed all those accomplishments in presenting Hester's case to the Selection Committee in 2022 and '23. But in 2024, Pompei also cited data that he felt would counter the argument that Hester didn't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame because he was predominantly a special teams player.
"In the third year I kind of focused at looking at some of the numbers that I had not looked at that were surprising even to me," Pompei said.
Pompei pointed out that Hester's 2,610 all-purpose yards were more than Hall of Fame finalists Antonio Gates, Torry Holt, Andre Johnson, Fred Taylor and Reggie Wayne. And that Hester's 5.7 touches per game were more than Gates, Holt, Johnson and Wayne.
"Hopefully that helped people see that [Hester] wasn't just a quote-unquote specialist who didn't really impact the totality of the game," Pompei said. "To say that he didn't have the same kind of impact because he was a special teams player was just wrong. It's inaccurate."
Some of the voters didn't need much convincing.
"I was a Hester guy all the way," said Geoff Hobson, Cincinnati's representative on the Selection Committee. "Any guy who's a career leader in any category you have to take really seriously no matter what it is on the field."
Hobson, who has written for the Bengals team website since 2000, has spoken to longtime Cincinnati special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons about Hester.
"[Simmons] always said that [Hester] was such a weapon because he made [coverage teams] react to him," Hobson said. "You had to scheme just for him. You had to do different things just for him, and that's what [Simmons] felt made [Hester] a Hall of Famer."
Take a look back at the Bears career of legendary return specialist and new Pro Football Hall of Famer Devin Hester, who recorded 34 touchdowns during his eight seasons in Chicago.
Devin Hester
Class of 2024
Carucci received similar feedback.
"I remember writing pieces about [Hester] when I worked for NFL.com and talking with special teams coaches around the league, current and former, who were telling me how you basically surrendered to him," Carucci said. "Kicking to him was a losing strategy, and if you think about that, how different is that from the blocking schemes you devise for a great passer or from dealing with a great receiver in terms of coverage or a great quarterback? Hall of Famers have to be defined by greatness, and for Devin Hester, greatness to me was a pretty easy definition."
Carucci enjoyed participating in the voting process.
"You do your research. You have to be as knowledgeable as you can," he said. "It's an awesome responsibility to vote for Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. You're changing people's lives, and I don't take that lightly. I have my worst night of sleep before that vote, always have.
"The skepticism I had was about whether he could get enough support. In my view, it was valid and as discussions go on—this is the beauty of the process—we spend upwards of nine hours in that meeting and if you listen and you're taking notes, and hear the discussion back and forth amongst the voters, you get a good idea of what makes this person a worthy Hall of Famer or not, and in Devin's case I felt that he was worthy."
For Bell, Hester's worthiness extended beyond the records he broke.
"You can talk about the statistics, which are great and validate everything," Bell said. "But the thing I'm always going to remember is just the anticipation. It's the eyeball test. You see a guy and say, 'That guy is the man.' With him, you were almost holding your breath. You didn't want to miss the kickoff or a punt, just anticipating that every kick could be the kick that he returns all the way. That was a part of the greatness that he brought."
