Chicago Bears: Should Devin Hester be a first-ballot Hall of Famer?

Should Chicago Bears returner Devin Hester be in the Hall of Fame at all?

Again, if you ask me, this question would be a simple yes. But in the light of fairness, I thought that I should at least acknowledge some of the arguments against Hester being in the Hall of Fame. The first and most common argument is that he plays a position that isn’t relevant enough to the game to be considered.

I like to combat this by arguing how he absolutely changes the game. Teams often kicked the ball out of bounds to avoid a Hester return, giving Chicago an extra 20 yards of field position to start their drives. If that isn’t changing the game, I don’t know what is.

This can be taken even a step further by saying that Hester only accounted for 20 touchdowns as a returner and 17 touchdowns as a receiver or ball carrier. How can a guy with that little production be considered?

This, in my opinion, is just an excuse to keep him out of Canton. Hester has never claimed to have earned a spot in the Hall of Fame as an overall player. His claim to fame is that he is the greatest punt and kickoff return man in the history of the game, and that fact is rarely disputed.

Every player who is the greatest of all time at their position is in the Hall of Fame right now; Hester should be no exception.