Devin Hester: Future Hall of Famer?

Devin Hester is already in the NFL's record book with his 16 kickoff/punt returns for TDs. Last Sunday's score off a 98-yard kickoff gave him 17 career non-offensive touchdowns -- including a 108-yard return of a missed FG in 2006 but not his 92-yard runback on the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLI -- tying him with Rod Woodson for second all-time and leaving him two back of Deion Sanders' career mark.

Granted, Sanders and Woodson largely built their Canton portfolios as defensive backs. But will the efforts of Hester, who's not yet halfway through his sixth season, earn him a place among the immortals?

He'd already been deemed the greatest return man in history on NFL Network's NFL Top 10 series before he broke the all-time TD record of Brian Mitchell, who scored on 13 kickoff/punt returns in a 14-year career.

Though Hester has started regularly at wideout for the Bear since 2008 -- he's got 185 career receptions and another 13 TDs through the air -- he's not nearly the same caliber of player as Sanders and Woodson outside his special teams role. To date, K Jan Stenerud is the only player enshrined at Canton who was inducted primarily for his excellence in the third phase of the game.

Will Stenerud be getting some company in the future?



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