The NFL world has reacted similarly to Bill Belichick’s Pro Football Hall of Fame snub, as a lot of fans were wondering how this could happen.
On Tuesday, news broke that Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach, was not a first-ballot entry into Canton. He needed 40 of 50 votes to get in, but there were reportedly 11 people who did not vote for Belichick.
Here is how the NFL reacted to this news, according to our sources.
NFL sources offer differing reactions on Belichick’s HOF snub
Eric D. Williams: Much like the voting process itself, there was no consensus from league sources I spoke with on Bill Belichick not making the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
One NFL agent offered a strong rebuke to the Hall of Fame for leaving Belichick on the outside looking in this year.
“It’s a complete f—-ing joke and they should close the Hall of Fame until further notice,” the NFL agent told me. “If current players and coaches voted, he would get 100%. Those voters are jealous and insecure fools.”
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That individual also felt it tarnished the legacy of the Hall of Fame.
“Without question, and it already was questionable to begin with,” they said.
And how much should his involvement in Spygate have any impact on his HOF candidacy?
“None,” the NFL agent told me. “Because it has no meaningful role in his coaching career. Eli (Manning) not being in is a joke, too.”
However, an NFC coach told me the Belichick snub was justified because of his involvement in Spygate.
“In my personal opinion, he’s the greatest coach of this generation and I don’t think we’ll see anyone else quite like him,” the coach told me. “With that being said, he does have a stain on his name. I don’t get why people are trying to brush over that or trying to turn that page really quickly.
“He got caught cheating. So, if you have cheated the game of football, I completely understand why you’re not a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I completely understand if you got caught stealing what’s not yours – yeah, wait a year. Don’t sweep that sh– under the rug. Nobody gets a freaking pass.”
However, the NFC coach does believe that Belichick eventually deserves entry into the Hall of Fame.
“No, put the man in the Hall of Fame,” the coach told me. “Yeah, you cheated and got caught. But he should be in the Hall of Fame. We’re not doing that.”
Two more league sources I spoke with echoed the coach’s sentiments that Belichick will eventually get in.
“Belichick will get there,” an NFL scout told me. “It’s not a snub. It’s just the process. The process could use refining in not enough personnel people who are the blood of an NFL team are not included.”
Said another longtime NFL coach about Belichick’s chances: “He will be in the Hall of Fame soon enough.”
NFL coaches fume at ‘embarrassing’ Belichick snub
Ralph Vacchiano: The outrage over the news that Bill Belichick had been snubbed by Hall of Fame voters was swift and loud. And may have been loudest among Belichick’s peers.
A group of NFL coaches was still in disbelief that at least 11 Hall of Fame voters did not vote for one of the greatest coaches in NFL history to be a part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.
“Embarrassing,” one current assistant coach told me via text. “He’s the best to ever do it. If he’s not in, you can’t have any coaches in.”
Another assistant coach put it in even stronger terms: “A f—ing disgrace” he told me in a text.
And none of the coaches contacted cared much about the reasons behind Belichick’s snub, whether it’s eventually blamed on the Hall’s flawed and confusing selection process or whether the voters held the “Spygate” cheating scandal against the former Patriots coach.
“There’s no excuse. None,” a former NFL head coach told me. “If you don’t think he’s the best candidate, you don’t deserve to vote. Seriously, outside of Tom Brady, who’s more deserving of (a spot in) Canton than him?”
“There’s not a coach in NFL history more deserving than him,” one of the assistants told me in a text. “There’s not a coach in sports history more deserving. Anyone who thinks he’s not a Hall of Famer doesn’t deserve a vote.”
