Gale Sayers on Devin Hester: 'Great Talent, But It's Too Early to Say Where He Ranks'

Notes on a trip to the Super Bowl.

I know who the two best kick returners in Chicago Bears history are, but I'm not sure which is the best and which is the second best.

Gale Sayers, the Pro Football Hall of Famer who played for the Bears from 1965 to 1971, is the NFL's all-time leader in kickoff return average. Devin Hester, who took the league by storm as a Bears rookie return man in 2006 and was just as great in 2007, owns the NFL record for kick return touchdowns in a season.

So who's the better player? I asked Sayers, who was at the Gridiron Greats fundraiser Wednesday night.

"He's had a great two years," Sayers said. "He's a great talent, but it's too early to say where he ranks among the all-time greats because you have to see how the rest of his career plays out."

Specifically, Sayers said he thinks Hester will increasingly find that teams kick away from him, and that opposing teams put their starting linebackers and defensive backs on the kickoff and punt coverage teams when they play the Bears. That means Hester may have a hard time matching what he did in the last two years. Sayers also believes that if the Bears want Hester to play wide receiver, they need to teach him the ins and outs of the position, and not just tell him to go long.

As for Sayers, although he was helping to raise money for disabled former players, he doesn't count himself among the players who need help. The knee injuries that ended his career still "hurt a little bit," he said, but he was walking without trouble and appeared to be in good enough shape that he's still, just a few months away from his 65th birthday, the Kansas Comet.