Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will not be a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, sources told ESPN.
Belichick did not receive the 40-of-50 votes required for induction, four sources told Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham of ESPN. NFL reporters and notable football figures, including former Colts general manager Bill Polian and former Colts head coach Tony Dungy, form the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s voting committee.
Polian told some voters that Belichick should “wait a year” because of the Patriots’ Spygate scandal, per ESPN. The Patriots’ Deflategate controversy reportedly also came up during deliberations, per ESPN.
Polian told Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame the report was “totally and categorically untrue” and that he voted for Belichick.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2026 will officially be announced next week during Super Bowl week. Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri are also finalists.
Belichick is a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach and two-time Super Bowl-winning assistant. He served as head coach and general manager of the Patriots from 2000 to 2023, when he was fired by Kraft. Belichick is now head coach of the University of North Carolina.
Multiple current and former players, including JJ Watt, Patrick Mahomes, Julian Edelman and Logan Ryan, have spoken out on social media in favor of Belichick since ESPN’s report was published.
“Ridiculous. Couldn’t have a better resume!” Ryan tweeted.
“Insane… don’t even understand how this could be possible,” Mahomes tweeted.
“I can’t be reading this right,” Watt tweeted. “This has to be some knock-off Hall of Fame or something, it can’t be the actual NFL Hall of Fame. There is not a single world whatsoever in which Bill Belichick should not be a First-Ballot Hall of Famer.”
“Smh (shaking my head),” Edelman tweeted.