When I heard that Devin Hester was retiring, the first person I wanted to hear from was Dave Toub. The Kansas City Chiefs special teams coach was in Chicago from 2004-12 which coincided with nearly all of Hester’s Bears career (2006-13).
Toub was asked about Hester and said he should be a Hall of Famer.
“Unbelievable,” Toub said. “Talked to him yesterday. He’s very satisfied doing what he’s doing and he was a great player. Really, five years from now if he doesn’t get in the Hall of Fame, it’d be a shame.”
I kinda doubt he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer but who knows? It will be a fun debate talking about his credentials because kick returners are historically not Hall of Famers. Hester, however, changed the position, Toub said.
“He put special teams on the map as far as how you can win games on special teams and I think everybody across the league has gone to that now because of him,” Toub said.
In Kansas City, our Hester is Tyreek Hill. He is changing the game as well but doing it on offense as well. The challenge Tyreek will face is the same one that Hester did: teams stop kicking to him. It’s even harder for Tyreek these days because he doesn’t get the kickoff opportunities that they did back in Hester’s day.
Tyreek is amazing on the field but go check out Hester’s return stats. Tyreek has a long way to go.