The Chicago Bears will be entering their 100^thseason of Professional Football, former Return Specialist, Devin Hester was asked by Joe Greenberg of the Atlantic about his Pro Football Hall of Fame chances.

Hester had this to say:

“I have no doubt in my mind I will make it.  I know I will.  When it’s all said and done, there’s no question I will be a Hall of Famer.”

Hester is arguably the greatest Returner ever in NFL history but even if you agree with that, there has never been a return specialist who has entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  11,028 of his 14,455 All-Purpose Yards came from returns and he was a four-time Pro Bowl and three-time First Team All-Pro in that capacity.  He holds the record for the most non-offensive Touchdowns with 20.  

With the perception as the greatest returner intact, the question really is how the position is viewed.  As we know, Special Teams players struggle to get into the Hall and there are already a lot of high-end players (regardless of the position) that are still on the outside looking in.

Hester will be eligible for Canton in 2022 and his profile is already up on Notinhalloffame.com.

Devin Hester will likely enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but not as quickly as he thinks.

NaVorro Bowman has officially retired from the Pro Football after last competing in 2017.

Bowman was a 3^rdRound Pick by the San Francisco 49ers from Penn State in 2010 and he would become a starting Inside Linebacker in his second season.  It was a breakout year as he would be named a First Team All-Pro and record 143 Tackles and was a large part of what was considered a renaissance for the 49ers defense.

The Linebacker would continue his interior dominance in 2012 as he would have his second straight First Team All-Pro Selection, would finally get the Pro Bowl nod that eluded him the year before and had his second straight 140 Tackle season.  More importantly, he was part of a Niners team that went to the Super Bowl in a losing effort against the Baltimore Ravens where he had nine Tackles in the game.

2013 would see Bowman again go to the Pro Bowl, achieve First Team All-Pro accolades and hit the 140 Tackle mark but a torn ACL and MCL kept him out of 2014.  He would make a comeback in 2015 with a career high and NFL high of 154 Tackles with a third Pro Bowl and fourth First Team All-Pro selection. This would be the last good season of Bowman’s career as 2016 was riddled with injuries and he was benched and released in 2017.  He would finish off the year with the Oakland Raiders.

Bowman is not a strong candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame but will be eligible in 2023. We will be adding his profile next month.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to thank NaVorro Bowman for the gridiron memories and we wish him the best in his post-playing career.

The music world has suffered a serious loss as Dr. John has passed away at the age of 77 due to a heart attack.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Malcolm John Rebennack would morph into “Dr. John” after a long period of session work and sitting under the learning tree of many of the greats of New Orleans music.  He would become a one-man melting pot of all things New Orleans.  His music combined blues, jazz, pop, rock and roll with a voodoo influence and in addition to his already colorful name, he would be dubbed “The Night Tripper”.  

In 1968, he would release his debut album, Gris Gris, which is considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the 500 greatest albums of all-time.  While he was an acclaimed musician, he was not necessarily a commercial juggernaut but did have a top ten hit in 1974 with “In the Right Place”.  

Dr. John would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends, family and fans of Dr. John at this time.

Never change Pete Rose!

We don’t think that we need to tell you that Pete Rose is one of our favorite people to talk about, mostly because he was banned from baseball and what was once a surefire first ballot Hall of Famer became a pariah who the Baseball Hall of Fame removed from the ballot completely.

Rose is constantly asked about the Baseball Hall of Fame and in a recent interview with the Brian Kilmeade Show he sounded off on Johnny Bench, his former teammate and Catcher with the Cincinnati Reds.  Bench has been vocal that he believes that Rose should not be allowed in the Baseball Hall of Fame due to betting on the game.  

Rose had the following to say:

“It don’t bother me but you know Johnny Bench is one guy who should have tanked God that I was born because he would have never made the Hall of Fame if I wasn’t born…Because I’m the guy he knocked in a thousand times.  You got guys in front of you guys right behind you and you got to be responsible for everybody else involved”.

We don’t think that Rose actually believes that as he would go on to say that he would always say that “Bench was the greatest Catcher that ever lived” so there is certainly some contradictory statements here but while he said there was not animosity between the two it is hard to see otherwise.

He would continue:

“I would think if he’s a Cincinnati fan and he cares about the city of Cincinnati that he would probably want me in the Hall of Fame.”

Like we said, never change Pete Rose!