Few people would consider Pacman Jones for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but those people aren’t Jones himself.
Jones made the case for himself to TMZ Sports last week, pointing to his record as a return man and arguing that it compares favorably with Devin Hester. Hester is widely thought to be the best return man of his era, and has even received Hall of Fame buzz based solely on his special teams exploits.
“If you just go back and look at the history, who would be your top three, four returners from 2005 to 2017-18 season?” Jones said. “If you look at the average per yard, how many times I’ve touched the ball, with even with being suspended, I had more yards than Devin Hester if you look at the amount of times we touched the ball.”
Jones did average one more yard per kick return than Hester did over his career. Of course, Jones never even returned a kickoff for a touchdown, boasting five punt return touchdowns. Those numbers pale in comparison to Hester, who returned 5 kickoffs and 14 punts for touchdowns.
Jones had a lengthy NFL career with a number of accomplishments. His numbers don’t add up, though. Nobody’s ever made the Hall of Fame based on their exploits on special teams, and even Hester is no sure thing. Jones just isn’t Hester. Couple that with his off-field issues and Pacman isn’t going to get the consideration he thinks he deserves.
