2024 Hall of Fame: Devin Hester made highlights and history as an elite kick returner

Seven men will be formally enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 3 in Canton, Ohio. Yahoo Sports will take a relatively short look at each legend and how he reached football immortality.

When you think of Super Bowl XLI between the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, what’s the first play you remember? Colts fans, sit this one out.

For most football fans, it was Devin Hester’s kickoff return touchdown on the first play of the game. That might be the only time the most memorable moment in a Super Bowl came from the losing team.

Part of the reason that return became an enduring part of NFL history, regardless of the Bears’ eventual loss, is that it came from arguably the greatest returner ever. Hester is the first player who was primarily a kick returner to get into the Hall of Fame.

That Super Bowl return is a great capsule of what made Hester great. He started running laterally, scanning the field, and after a couple of quick jukes left Colts defenders grasping at a ghost he was in the open field. It was usually a wrap after that. Hester glided past the Colts for a 92-yard touchdown. Then Hester unsnapped his helmet and started a defiant walk through the end zone.

There have been many great returners in NFL history. But it’s fitting Hester made history when he was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Devin Hester dominated games as a returner

Before a 2007 game between the Bears and Denver Broncos, the Broncos had the same conversation many teams had before facing Hester. Would they kick to him?

Broncos punter Todd Sauerbrun made it clear. They were kicking to Hester.

“We’re not going to play chicken s*** ball,” Sauerbrun said days before the game. “We’re not going to kick away from him. Hey, we respect the hell out of him and he’s the best, but we have guys on our coverage teams that are paid to make big tackles.”

Denver led at halftime. Then Hester had a punt return of 75 yards for a touchdown and an 88-yard kickoff return for another touchdown. The Bears won 37-34 in overtime.

If you didn’t fear Hester, you should have. Hester holds the NFL record with 20 return touchdowns. He also holds the record for most punt return touchdowns with 14. Hester had five return touchdowns his rookie season in 2006, then bested that with six in his second season. That’s the single-season NFL record.

It might have been even more if teams didn’t smarten up and start kicking away from Hester.

Hester is a unique Hall of Famer

During Hester’s college career at Miami, he played some offense and defense and, of course, was a dangerous returner. Hester started his NFL career at cornerback, switched to receiver and never had a huge impact at either (though he did have 17 career touchdowns from scrimmage and 757 receiving yards in 2009). It didn’t really matter, considering how good Hester was on returns.

Hester had eight exhilarating seasons with the Bears before spending three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks to finish his career. In Hester’s final NFL game, a playoff game for the Seahawks against the Falcons at the end of the 2016 season, he averaged 38.8 yards on five kickoff returns. He was 34 years old.

Even though Hester is widely considered the greatest returner of all time, it wasn’t a given that he’d make the Hall of Fame. He was a finalist in 2022 and 2023 but didn’t make it in. Hester did get enough votes this year, a great tribute to one of the most unique and exciting players in NFL history.

“When you think about it, any position to be the first in the Hall of Fame is so incredible and so unreal,” Hester told Yahoo Sports after it was announced he’d be part of the 2024 Hall of Fame class. “”I’m blessed to be opening up doors to the rest of the guys who are knocking on the door and deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.”