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

The ex-Chicago Bears star will likely get in, but will he be a first-ballot HOFer?

When it comes to the discussion of whether or not Devin Hester should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, the answer becomes less black and white. Hester was the greatest of his kind, but we’ve never seen someone in his position make the Hall of Fame. Firsts don’t always happen so easily.

Again, this isn’t as hot of a topic as questioning whether or not he should be in the Hall of Fame in general, but it’s worth asking. Fellow Bear Goggles On Contributor Nathan Erbach put out a Twitter poll to see what the general public thinks about this debate:

The results are overwhelmingly in Hester’s favor by Chicago Bears fans, but to put this into perspective, former Cleveland Browns return specialist Josh Cribbs was nominated for the Hall of Fame just a couple of years back in 2019. Two years later and he has not yet earned a place in Canton. That being said, he is not the greatest pure return man of all time – that honor belongs to Devin Hester – but he is close to the Bears legend.

I don’t think the second-best return man of all time being left out for two years is any cause for concern, but it may be a sign of the committee’s hesitance to give out a spot to a nontraditional position.