Dante Hall vs Devin Hester vs Deion Sanders vs Brian Mitchell: Who do you pick with the game on the line?
This article wasn’t created to debate who was the most productive because that is obvious based on stats.
Devin Hester finished his career with 14 punt returns for touchdowns — also the best in NFL history — and five TDs on kickoff returns in 11 seasons.
Dante Hall retired with 12 in nine years.
“Neon Deion” had nine total kick and punt return TDs in 14 years.
When you throw in fumble and interception returns, you get 10 more TUDs on top of Deion’s nine return TUDs. He retired tied for second most interceptions returned for a touchdown in a career (9).
“Prime Time” is one of two NFL players to score TUDs in six different ways.
But who was the most electric? If for some reason you found yourself in a Liam Neeson Taken-type scenario and your child’s life depended on a return for a TUD, who do you pick?
Has there ever been a more exciting, athletically gifted kick returner than the “Human Joystick,” Dante Hall? Dude was like a cat.
In 2003, Hall returned a kickoff or a punt for a touchdown four games in a row, which is an NFL record. He scored 10 total touchdowns in 13 games. In the playoffs that year against the Indianapolis Colts, Hall had another kickoff return for a touchdown, giving him five for the year.
October 2, 2005, he tied four players, among them Ollie Matson and Gale Sayers, for the most career kickoff return touchdowns, with six. That record stood until Joshua Cribbs broke it in 2009. Hall’s sixth return was also his 10th return touchdown, placing him third in that category behind Brian Mitchell (13) and Eric Metcalf
Both Hall and Deion were fast, but Hester’s straight line speed and ability to read blocks was ridiculous.
Brian Mitchell had a completely different style altogether.
Brian Mitchell was a 5th round draft pick by the Washington Redskins in 1990. He played QB at the University of Southwestern Louisiana but ended up a RB in the NFL. Mitchell burst onto the scene in 1991 as a kick/punt returner and earned 2nd Team All-Pro honors on his way to a Super Bowl ring.
Mitchell became one of the most prolific returners in NFL history and was sometimes used as a third down back because of his ability to receive out of the backfield. By the end of his career, Mitchell had been an All-Pro 3 times and amassed 23,330 all-purpose yards, still second all-time to only Jerry Rice who has 23,546 yards.
Mitchell wasn’t the flashiest because he wasn’t always a breakaway threat as a returner (although he had 13 returns for TDs in his career), but his exceptional ability to change field position drastically on a regular basis was extremely valuable and highly coveted.
He was consistent in his ability to take a punt 20+ yards the other way in clutch situations and set his team up with great field position. Second all-time in all-purpose yards, Brian Mitchell
I noted the stats, but throw them out the window – if you could pick one of these three dudes to return a kick with the game on the line, who would you pick?
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