Dante Hall Vs. Devin Hester

In my part of the world all you ever hear is how Devin Hester is the greatest kick returner of all time. While I'll agree Hester is phenomenal, as many games he has been the Bears only chance of scoring an offensive touchdown. However, Bears fans forget just how great Dante Hall was back in his days with the Chiefs. Just as how the Bears tenacious defense is always ridiculously compared to Ditka's '85 Bears defense, Hester has also been elevated as the Bears anemic offense makes Hester look even better. The Bears more modern defenses, led by Urlacher & Briggs have definitely been very good, but really have no right being compared to the '85 defense. Hester is closing the gap with Hall, but is not there yet.

The first evidence Hester Fanatics alway point out to me is the stats. Hester's return stats are pretty incredible. Last season he scored 6 touchdowns on returns and while not cracking the top 20 in kick returns, was ranked #2 in punt returns averaging 15.5 yards returned per punt. Hester's rookie year he scored five return touchdowns. It looks so obvious how much better he is than Hall who has scored only 12 return touchdowns in his entire career.

I'm sure in the future baseball historians will argue in favor of Bonds, Sosa and McGuire whos' power numbers make Roger Maris's year of 61 homers look like a joke. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle are weak compared to the juiced ball, juiced player, hitters parks, lousy pitchers era of baseball we see today. Mantle's 536 home runs over 17 years ranks him below Alex Rodriguez, and all time great Rafael Palmeiro. Jim Thome will be next to pass this "great player" unless Manny Ramirez passes him first. Its extrememly obvious Mickey Mantle is not the player many "remember" him as. Just looking at the stats, Mantle is a chump.

Now while that example is extreme, to a lesser extent, I see the same thing happening in the Dante Hall/Devin Hester debate. Take 2003 for example Hall's best season, Dante Hall only scored a 3 return touchdowns. However, the rest of the league's top 25 returners only scored a total of 23 touchdowns. In 2007, the top 25 NFL returners scored 50 return touchdowns. What happened? I doubt Hester and Leon Washington and Josh Cribbs are juicing, their bodies look nothing like Sosa and Bonds and the other usual suspects. And no, unlike the MLB, the NFL is not destroying the integrity of the game by changing variables of the game to make it easier to see the "home run". I do however know with injuries so common in today's NFL, injuries to some great players, that return teams are rarely fielded with many starters anymore. It is obvious that it is much easier to return a punt or kick off to the house nowadays as teams try to preserve their best players from injury. And while I have no problem with this as I hate seeing a great player get lost for the year on almost any team, and I love seeing returners take one to the house. Just like the MLB home run is now a much easier achievable feat, It is literally a different day now in the NFL return game. Hester also has a bias for scoring when he is desperately needed adding to his legend among Bear fans. When Grossman is having trouble completing a pass to his own team, Hester many times is the game hero. Hester's Super Bowl kick off return 2 seasons ago helped cement his immortal status in Bear Country.

While Devin Hester has been great in 2006 and 2007, statistically he only barely surpasses Hall in punt return average by less than one yard and is behind Hall's kick return average by almost 2 yards (comparing to Hall's 2 best seasons 2003 & 2004). Add in the "Mickey Mantle" factor and Hester's startling fumble rate (double that of Hall's) and I think its obvious that the X Factor in his prime is still supreme to the young Devin Hester. It will be very interesting to see if Hester continues to get better and challenge Hall for his spot, but until he proves he's better to me I'll still rank Dante Hall as the best returner in the NFL I have ever seen.

Still not convinced? Perhaps some X Factor in his prime will show you what I see. Some highlight vids below of both great returners. Hester may be faster, but Hall was better.