The Halley’s Comet of returners: Devin Hester had the most complete returner career in NFL history.
Breaking News: The Most Completed Returner Career In NFL………
“One of the things he did this week, he actually reached out to Brian Mitchell, who had success beyond the age of 30 in the return game. … You don’t have that breakaway speed, that make-you-miss in a confined space when you’re 30, 31 years old. And Brian Mitchell told him that. It becomes more of a team, and reading their blocks and having their trust.”
The broadcast on Oct. 20, 2013 after Devin Hester’s 81-yard-punt return, his first return score since 2011, and his 19th return TD, tying Deion Sanders for the most non-offensive touchdowns in NFL history
“To have something turn off and suddenly brighten up at this distance is unheard of.”
Astronomer Karen Meech in March 1991 after Halley’s Comet shocked the astronomy world by flaring up 1,000 times brighter than expected a mere five years after its 76-year-only appearance
In both their play on the field and their longevity of greatness, return specialists are the NFL’s version of comets: celestial missiles of ice, dust and gas that rocket through space, a firey head followed by a gaseous tail. NASA describes them as “cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust,” with the dust and gases forming a tail “that stretches away from the Sun for millions of miles.”
Before the 17th century, scientists believed that comets were only seen once. That changed in 1705, when English astronomer Edmond Halley, and I’ll quote NASA again, “used Isaac Newton’s theories of gravitation and planetary motions to compute the orbits of several comets” finding “similarities in the orbits of bright comets reported in 1531, 1607 and 1682.” Halley surmised that these were actually a single comet, and that the comet would re-appear in 1758. Halley died in 1742, and 26 years later, what would become known as “Halley’s Comet” did indeed appear again.
The comet last appeared in 1986 and will appear next in 2061.
Of course by “appear” we mean that regular people can see them from Earth without any equipment. Halley’s Comet appears about every 76 years. But it doesn’t vanish in the interim. It stays in orbit, fast and powerful.
Devin Hester was Halley’s Comet, his 2006 and 2007 the equivalent of the 76-year appearance: visible to any football fan’s naked eye. His 2010 and 2011 were the flare up, reaching levels that other comets only reach at their peak. His 2012-2016 was a comet in orbit away from the Sun: fast, powerful, glowing, radiant — but largely out of the public discussion.
I’m no Edmond Halley. I’m no Isaac Newton. I’m no Karen Meech.
But I can tell you that Devin Hester was more than just a two-year phenomenon as he’s sometimes dismissed. Unlike most of the other all-time great returners in NFL history, Devin Hester had a complete career.
And that complete career shows up in several stats and games, including the one at the center of part 3 of my five-part Hester stats series: touchdowns per return.
- MONDAY: Career touchdowns
- YESTERDAY: Season touchdowns
- TODAY: Touchdowns per return
- THURSDAY: Combined punt and kick return dominance
- FRIDAY: Percentage of yardage… and the myth of “the snap count problem”
