Devin Hester retires

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What a career. Guy was magical. May never be another like him.
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what an even more magical career he could have had as a Bear had the coaches simply accepted him as the one trick pony he was and rode him accordingly

I can still replay this return over and over in my head as one of the best ... but with the magic of youtube, I don't have to :

[video][/video]

the way the team reacted once he brought it out, and the blocks they made to pave the way, was just so perfect
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I still remember watching his first game in Boston against the Packers. They were punting to Hester and I turned to my buddy and said "watch this kid, he's going to be special".

Bam, takes it to the house.
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GOAT as a returner.
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I really swore that Hester said that he was retiring last post-season when he arrived in Seattle.

I didn't know he was still a free agent. Especially seeing as how well he returned kicks/punts in the post-season last year, I would have figured someone would give him a shot if he was still active.

I thought we already had these threads last year in January, but yeah... Obviously, the GOAT. One of my favorite players ever to watch.
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Happened to be at 2 of his more exciting games. Dec 11, 2006, 2 KOs against the Rams in St Louis. Dec 5, 2007 and PR and KO against the Cutler led Broncos. It was also sweet as Todd Sauebrun was punting for the Broncs. He made a futile attempt to tackle Hester I believe on a 4th qtr punt. Sweet memories.
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What a weapon and deserves HOF consideration in my opinion. If Rex Grossman would have been anything near consistent, we'd have had 1 or more superbowls during that period. My apologies to Urlacher, Tillman, Briggs and the rest of the defense!!
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[video][/video]
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Devin Hester..YOU WERE RIDICULOUS !!!!!

Thanks for the memories..
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Rusty Trombagent
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irrefutably a hall of famer!
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One of the most fun players to ever wear a Bears uniform.
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The best who ever done it.

Dammit he was exciting to watch.
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Everybody who thinks Hester was great because he was quick and fast are missing it. Hester was really strong for his size. A guy that small should be able to be brought down by arm tackles from much bigger men. Not Hester. And he had a really special knack for finding the crease, cutting it straight up the field and getting by a bunch of guys at once. He had a really special combination of gifts.
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One of the best highlights of my sports fandom, sittin 11th row endzone, Miami.
Best opening to a super bowl ever.
From my seat you could see every block/hole develop on that kick off return.
Surrounded by Colts fans, my head was in orbit.
I actually won 50 bucks from the Colts fan next to me. Maybe it was the alcohol talkin but I bet him Hester would return a kick in the game. Little did I know I'd win so quickly.
But Indy did have the worst special teams in the league that year and the Bears the best, figured my odds were pretty good.
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I think his super bowl return was the highlight of my sports fan life. I was five when they won in 86, so I wasn’t aware of it. I was moving to Colorado about two weeks later and that was my last hurrah with my oldest friends. That moment right there was insane.

He made kicks must watch tv. Best ever to do it.


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RustyTrubisky wrote:irrefutably a hall of famer!
I am against players getting in the HOF strictly for SPT's contributions.

However, since the NFL has caved and opened that door recently. Yeah, I guess he belongs in...
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BR0D1E86 wrote:I think his super bowl return was the highlight of my sports fan life. I was five when they won in 86, so I wasn’t aware of it. I was moving to Colorado about two weeks later and that was my last hurrah with my oldest friends. That moment right there was insane.

He made kicks must watch tv. Best ever to do it.


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That begs a question and I'm not trying to take this thread OT. Mine was Jordan's score over Russell against Utah in the Finals.

Whenever I knew Hester was going to return a kick I never left the room.

The punt return against Arizona.
The missed FG against the NYG.
And of course the return against Indy in the Super Bowl.

What a player. Hopefully an HOF'er.
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Boris13c wrote:what an even more magical career he could have had as a Bear had the coaches simply accepted him as the one trick pony he was and rode him accordingly
I honestly disagree here. He could have been some much more than a HoF returner had he played with an offensive coach with half a clue during his prime.

In 2009 he was out number one receiver. Absolute madness! Still, with Earl Bennett and a rookie Johnny Knox as stablemates, he was our leading receiver and 32nd in the league in yards per game. In 2010 with Cutler getting sacked into oblivion as Martz watches the game pass him by in real time he's still our #2/3 receiver with Knox as our #1. In 2011 we try to improve our receiver corps with the ghost of Roy Williams and gets 7 targets following Cutler's injury.

2012 is the first year he plays with a proper receiver and by then he's lost a step, has Mike Tice as an OC and Cutler doesn't want to do anything but play catch with the first proper receiver he's had since his Denver days.

I feel privileged that the GOAT returner is one of ours but there's a bit of sadness that he didn't get to play for a team with anything resembling an offence that could utilise him. Put him on a team where he isn't up against opponent's top DBs and with an offensive mind that isn't offensive and he could have been a special complimentary receiver too.

Sorry, I've sullied this celebratory thread with our wideout options from 2009-2011.
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The Marshall Plan wrote:
BR0D1E86 wrote:I think his super bowl return was the highlight of my sports fan life. I was five when they won in 86, so I wasn’t aware of it. I was moving to Colorado about two weeks later and that was my last hurrah with my oldest friends. That moment right there was insane.

He made kicks must watch tv. Best ever to do it.


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That begs a question and I'm not trying to take this thread OT. Mine was Jordan's score over Russell against Utah in the Finals.

Whenever I knew Hester was going to return a kick I never left the room.

The punt return against Arizona.
The missed FG against the NYG.
And of course the return against Indy in the Super Bowl.

What a player. Hopefully an HOF'er.
I was a huge Bulls fan in the 90s too. But I’d have traded all six for that Super Bowl.
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I live in Seattle and locals are trying to claim him as a hawk, I'm like just stop :D

Thanks for the many returns DHester, you will always be remembered as the best return man ever!
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I too remember that first game as a rookie against the Packers in week 1. I even remember the score, 26-0. But I was also telling my dad to watch out for #23 - I knew how explosive he was and I remember seeing him in preseason showing some flashes.

To me, he's a no doubt Hall of Famer.

One of the most exciting Bears to watch in the history of their franchise.
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We all know Devin was a special return man, best in the biz, but he was just that. Off the top of my head, I can't remember anyone getting into the hall solely as a return man?
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His threat to score was VERY apparent. However, in his best kick return yardage year (13) he averaged 27.6 yards per return. In his best return years for TDs (tie 06'/07') he returned only 2 kicks. That averages out to a little over 1 PPG.

In his best punt return year (07') he averaged 16.5 yards. That same year was his best year for TDs, he returned 4 punts. That averages out to a little less than 2 PPG.

Now I understand that starting field position is a huge factor in offensives production but in his best stat year (07'), he basically averaged a field goal per game. Don't get me wrong, he was electrifying and easily the best return man ever, period. That alone might get him in. But did he really change the outcome of games? Is 45 yards and 3 PPG on average worthy of the hall?
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Funkster wrote:His threat to score was VERY apparent. However, in his best kick return yardage year (13) he averaged 27.6 yards per return. In his best return years for TDs (tie 06'/07') he returned only 2 kicks. That averages out to a little over 1 PPG.

In his best punt return year (07') he averaged 16.5 yards. That same year was his best year for TDs, he returned 4 punts. That averages out to a little less than 2 PPG.

Now I understand that starting field position is a huge factor in offensives production but in his best stat year (07'), he basically averaged a field goal per game. Don't get me wrong, he was electrifying and easily the best return man ever, period. That alone might get him in. But did he really change the outcome of games? Is 45 yards and 3 PPG on average worthy of the hall?
For the same reason there should be DH's in the baseball Hall of Fame there should be return guys in the football HOF. It's a position on the field or in baseball's case the batting order. Evaluate the players as they are in respect to their position.
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Funkster wrote:His threat to score was VERY apparent. However, in his best kick return yardage year (13) he averaged 27.6 yards per return. In his best return years for TDs (tie 06'/07') he returned only 2 kicks. That averages out to a little over 1 PPG.

In his best punt return year (07') he averaged 16.5 yards. That same year was his best year for TDs, he returned 4 punts. That averages out to a little less than 2 PPG.

Now I understand that starting field position is a huge factor in offensives production but in his best stat year (07'), he basically averaged a field goal per game. Don't get me wrong, he was electrifying and easily the best return man ever, period. That alone might get him in. But did he really change the outcome of games? Is 45 yards and 3 PPG on average worthy of the hall?
One quick point, his best kick return year for average yards per return was 2010 with 35.6.

More generally, I think you're looking at this entirely wrong. 3 points per game from your returner? That's massive. Those aren't points that are coming from elsewhere, there's no way to get a free field goal attempt. Plus, his time with the bears resulted in a touchdown from a return once every six and a half games. In 2007 he led the Bears in touchdowns outside of Griese at QB.

And the stats don't account for all the yards we got from teams kicking away from him and still, in 06, 07, 10 and 11 he was ridiculous.

Such as threat, incredible to watch and a game changer.

A lock for Canton.
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And something that isn't reflected in his stats is how teams decided to kick to us. IIRC, there were a ton of high, shorter kicks that gave us very good field position, not to mention a number of directional kicks that ended up going out of bounds resulting in a penalty and our offense getting the ball on the 40 yard line. And when you have an offense that is being called by the likes of Ron Turner or Mike Martz or Mike Tice, his value as far as field position alone not only helped us in acquiring points, but it helped us in keeping easy points (field goals) off the board as well.

And with that knowledge in hand, does anyone think we would have made it to the Super Bowl in 2007 without him? I personally don't.

So I think he eventually makes it into the Hall. First time ballot? I don't know, but eventually I think he makes it.
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