Devin Hester … YOU are ridiculous!
If you are a Bears fan reading those woꦅrds, you also probably heard them in your head while reading the sentence above. There is also a good chance you heard those words live when they ﷽rolled off the lips of Chicago Bears play-by-play voice Jeff Joniak.
Deviꦆn Hester has long been ridiculous. Now, he is a Hall of Famer.
It is sticking with me that Hester is part of the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame induction class. Hester was my favorite Bears player during his time with the team. Electric with the ball in his hands. Slick and elusive. A speed demon in space. The Bears haven’t had a ton of those types of playmakers on offense. And here they were with one they were deploying on special teams as a kick and punt returner. There are only two players who had me stopping in my tracks to watch a return — Devin Hester and Deion Sanders. That’s it. End of list.
Now, both are in the Hall of Fame. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the next Pro Footb🅰all Hall of Fame get-together featuring Devin and Deion.
And with a like what I’m about to share below, it is a wonder why he wasn’t in sooner. I hope you’re buckled in because what is about to follow is nearly 20 minutes of Hall of Fame caliber Devin Hester footage:
It is OK if you want to roll it again. Devin Hester kick and punt return highlights have been like chicken soup for my soul in the past. I once had a bad day at work and it showed on my face and in my body language in a big way. But my girlfriend at the time told me to sit down, relax, and put on some Hester highlights. Af♍ter rattling off a highlight-reel watch party, I felt better.
Or, you can look at it this way: The Super Bowl is on Sunday and we’ve got some time to kill between now and kickoff. Plus, we’ve got a long offseason ahead of us. So you can circle back to this post to get your football fix when nothing else scratches that itch. Enjoy the heck out of those highlights, folks.
Devin Hester’s Hall of Fame wait is over
I let out a big sigh of relief once word came through that Devin Hester’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2024 was officially official. Knowing that I didn’t have to put together a “wait til next year” post for Hester helped me sleep well last night. And I imagine Hester felt similarly after not making it on his first two tries.
Dom’t get me wrong. We all knew Hester’s time was coming. The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s president told Hester as much in a conversation 🅘betwee🅷n the two that Hester relayed in 2022. And it isn’t as if his credentials changed. But it irked me seeing Hester get snubbed twice. Devin Hester was a game-changer with the ball in his hands — so much so that teams changed how their kick coverage game. Eventually, even the NFL made rule changes that altered the return game to the point where it looks nothing like it once did when Hester was at the peak of his powers. Multi-level game-changers don’t grow on trees.
In the end, Hester’s credentials were nothing short of spectacular — so let’s revisit his work:
All of the above adds up to a Hall of Fame 🍎résumé. Better late 🐟than never, I suppose.
