KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The NFL announced the All-Decade team for the 2010s on Monday, and of course there were people that thought certain players and coaches got snubbed.
Possibly the most peculiar take of them all was brought up by NBC Sports’ Michael David Smith, who wrote that Tyreek Hill shouldn’t have been picked as the All-Decade punt returner.
While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I believe that Smith’s article is built on a bad premise and is missing some key context. As a result, the article comes off as misleading and disingenuous.
In his article, Smith writes that while Hill is a great punt returner, he was in no way the best returner of the decade.
“Hill is undeniably electrifying with the ball in his hands, but was he really the best punt returner in the NFL over the last decade?” Smith wrote. “No. He wasn’t. And he wasn’t even close.”
He points out that Devin Hester (who made the All-Decade team as a kick returner) had more than twice as many punt return yards as Hill in this decade alone, and that he had a higher yards-per-return average and more touchdowns.
He even mentions that Marcus Sherels and Ted Ginn have double the punt return yards as Hill does and that Julian Edelman, Dwayne Harris, Patrick Peterson, Antonio Brown and Travis Benjamin all had more punt return yards and as many touchdowns as Hill.
One of the problems with Smith’s article, though, is that it heavily relies on the idea that having the most punt return yards is important in determining who the best punt returner is.
Excluding Hester, Hill has more yards per return and Pro Bowl selections as a punt returner in the 2010s than any of the players Smith named.
He also has more All-Pro selections and punt return touchdowns than Sherels and Ginn, neither of whom have even been named to the Pro Bowl.
In almost every category for a returner, Hill has these players beat, but because they have more total return yards, we’re supposed to believe that they would make better selections.
Smith also brought up that Hill doesn’t have nearly as many returns as the players he mentioned, which is true. But ironically that works against Smith’s point about total return yards.
It’s precisely because they have more returns that these players have more total return yards, which is proven by Hill averaging more yards per return.
Statistically speaking, if Hill had returned as many punts as the other players had, he would have more total yards than they would, and probably far more touchdowns as well.
With the exception of Hester, there really isn’t a case for anyone to make it as a punt returner over Hill — unless you want to argue the amount of punts returned is more important than Pro Bowl selections or how many yards were gained on those returns.
Hill has more Pro Bowl selections as a returner in this decade, but Hester has Hill beat in almost every punt return category, even yards per return (12.1 to Hill’s 11.9). Hester already made the All-Decade team as a kick returner, but he does have a legitimate case for punt returner as well.
That being said, I don’t think any of the other players Smith mentions are better choices for All-Decade punt returner than Hill, and I also think it’s weird to even bring them up.
It’s one thing to make a case for a player that’s largely regarded as the best returner of all time, but mentioning guys like Edelman, Sherels, Ginn and Benjamin — who haven’t even made the Pro Bowl — comes of as lazy at best and disingenuous at worst.
Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but I find it hard to believe that anyone truly thinks that Julian Edelman belongs in the same category as Tyreek Hill when it comes to all-time great punt returners.
