After news broke Tuesday night that former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was snubbed in his first year as a candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, reactions of shock and anger poured in from across the football world and beyond, including from President Trump.
CBS Sports confirmed Tuesday that Belichick — who won six Super Bowls as head coach of the Patriots, and two more as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants — will not be a first ballot Hall of Fame selection when the class is revealed to the public on Feb. 5. A candidate needs to receive at least 40 votes from the 50-member selection committee to be inducted.
ESPN was first to report that Belichick received a call on Friday that he did not receive enough votes.
“It is the same mindset that gave pro football the new and unwatchable ‘Sissy’ Kickoff Rule, that made it possible for Bill Belichick to not be elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Both are ridiculous and should be overturned!” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social in reference to the NFL’s new kickoff rules, which took effect at the beginning of the 2024 season.
Belichick and Mr. Trump have a friendship that dates back decades. The night before the 2016 presidential election, Mr. Trump read a letter from Belichick endorsing him during a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. And the night before the 2024 election, Mr. Trump joined Belichick on his podcast.
NFL world reacts to Hall of Fame vote
Retired Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who won six of his seven Super Bowls with Belichick — forming arguably the greatest coach-quarterback duo of all time — appeared flummoxed when asked about the snub in an interview Wednesday with a Seattle sports talk radio station.
“I don’t understand it, I mean, I was with him every day,” Brady said. “If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”
In an X post, Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes called the decision “Insane… don’t even understand how this could be possible.”
Former Houston Texans star defensive end JJ Watt, now an analyst for CBS Sports, sounded off as well.
“I can’t be reading this right. This has to be some knock-off Hall of Fame or something, it can’t be the actual NFL Hall of Fame,” Watt posted to X. “There is not a single world whatsoever in which Bill Belichick should not be a First-Ballot Hall of Famer.”
In multiple social media posts, Hall of Fame coach and retired analyst Jimmy Johnson called for voters who left Belichick off their ballot to identify themselves, and accusing them of being “too cowardly to identify themselves.”
“Dumbest s*** we will see all 2026!!!” wrote retired Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty, who played 13 seasons for Belichick.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James weighed in as well, calling the decision “impossible, egregious, and quite frankly disrespectful.”
“There’s no way I read that right!” James wrote.
Who votes for the Hall of Fame?
The Pro Football Hall of Fame website lays out details about the committee that snubbed Belichick, including a list of the voters. For New England, former newspaper writer Ron Borges, now with the Talk of Fame Network, is a voter.
“The Committee consists of one media representative from each pro football city with two each from Los Angeles and New York, inasmuch as those cities have two teams in the National Football League. A 33rd member is a representative of the Pro Football Writers of America, and there are up to 17 at-large delegates,” the website reads.
The Hall of Fame does not release the specific results of who voted for each candidate. But many of the voters have already revealed that they voted for Belichick. Still, he fell at least 11 votes short.
One voter whose opinion has come into focus has been former Indianapolis Colts general manager and president Bill Polian, who was a longtime rival of the Patriots. ESPN reported Polian told some voters that Belichick should be forced to wait a year to be inducted as punishment for the Spygate and Deflategate scandals.
Polian gave two seemingly conflicting interviews after the news broke Tuesday night. First, he told SI Now that it was “categorically untrue” that he led a charge against Belichick, adding that he voted for him. Later, Polian told ESPN he “could not remember with 100% certainty” if he voted for Belichick.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft is a finalist for the Hall of Fame this year as well, along with former New England kicker Adam Vinatieri. The results are officially announced during the NFL Honors broadcast during Super Bowl week.
“It’s insane,” Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports and an outspoken Patriots, fan, told CBS Boston. “It just ruins the entire integrity of the entire Pro Football Hall of Fame. You might as well not even have it. What’s the point to even having the Hall of Fame if Bill Belichick’s not first ballot?”
Belichick’s six Super Bowl wins between 2001 and 2019 are the most for any head coach in NFL history. The Patriots also made three more Super Bowl appearances during that time span.
