(670 The Score) Bears great Devin Hester has been forced to wait once again for his call to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
A finalist for the second straight year, Hester once again wasn't elected last week as the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting committee selected from its 15 modern-era finalists. The NFL’s all-time leader in return touchdowns with 20, Hester hasn't yet been rewarded by a voting committee that doesn't prioritize players who were almost exclusively special teams standouts.
Dan Pompei of the Athletic, a voter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the individual who was tasked with presenting Hester’s case to his fellow voters, was surprised by the discussion around Hester during the voting process, he told the Mully & Haugh Show on 670 The Score on Wednesday morning.
“Well, I understood where people were coming from,” Pompei said. “And there was a lot of conversation about him. I was kind of surprised and a little taken aback, because there were a lot of things said by a number of of voters this year that were brought up last year. Most of it had to do with, ‘Well, he’s just a special teams player and he only played so many snaps. How do you compare that to a Joe Thomas, who was on the field for 65% of a game or whatever?’ That’s the challenge with Devin Hester. He’s unique in NFL history. There is not another pure special teams player who’s in the Hall of Fame, other than a couple of kickers and a punter. So, that’s what we’re facing with him, what we continue to face with him. But hopefully we can continue to make the case that what he did with fewer snaps had greater impact.
“Another point that I’m certainly going to keep hammering is if you look at his all-purpose yards, that's a big number. He’s got more than all the three wide receivers who were finalists that we were talking about in all-purpose yards. Of course, some of that was from his receiving as well. You’re talking about a guy who was the greatest returner in NFL history. There will be a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for him.”
Hester played eight of his 11 NFL seasons with Chicago, recording all but one of his return touchdowns for the Bears. He's eligible to be back on the ballot once again in 2024 with hopes that the third time will be the charm.
For his part, Pompei hopes a new ballot can offer the opportunity to alter existing perspectives on Hester from his fellow voters.
“I can only hope that we can kind of create a new narrative next year,” Pompei said. “I can tell you this – he has got a lot of really avid supporters in that room. I know that. They have spoken up on his behalf. They have told me that in conversations. But there are some who are not supporters or cannot warm up to the fact that he should be in ahead of some of these other players who we’re discussing. I think it might’ve worked against him a little bit, too, that we had these three wide receivers in the conversation who really slipped a lot of votes. Because you had those guys, maybe that was a factor that worked against him. I don’t know. But I hope that we can start over next year. There are going to be a couple of strong first-time candidates next year in Julius Peppers and Antonio Gates, but I think there will certainly be room for him.”
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