New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has no doubt that Bill Belichick should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and former Patriots tight end Robert Gronkowski finds it “asinine” that his former head coach won’t receive that honor.
A day after the news broke that Belichick won’t be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026, Kraft gave a strongly worded statement to The Associated Press in support of his former head coach.
“Whatever perceptions may exist about any personal differences between Bill and me, I strongly believe Bill Belichick’s record and body of work speak for themselves,” Kraft said.
Some have wondered if Kraft is to blame for the reason why Belichick won’t be getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026. Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson even said as much in an interview with FS1’s “The Herd” on Wednesday, noting that Kraft is also a finalist for induction into the Hall of Fame this year.
But Kraft continued to emphasize that he felt Belichick should be inducted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, going as far as to say that he’s the greatest coach of all-time.
“As head coach of the New England Patriots for more than two decades, he set the standard for on-field excellence, preparation, and sustained success in the free agency and salary cap era of The National Football League,” Kraft stated. “He is the greatest coach of all time and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.”
Belichick and Kraft won six Super Bowls together when the former was the head coach of the Patriots for 24 years. Belichick also helped the Patriots reach the Super Bowl on three other occasions, helping them become a playoff mainstay as he won 17 AFC East titles in New England. On top of that, Belichick is the second-winningest coach in NFL history (333), while his 31 postseason wins are the most ever.
However, tension began to build up between Kraft and Belichick in the head coach’s final years with the team. In the 2024 Apple+ Docuseries “The Dynasty,” Kraft called Belichick a “pain in the tush.” After Belichick was let go by the Patriots in January 2024, Kraft reportedly was a key figure in preventing Belichick from landing the Atlanta Falcons head coaching job that offseason.
Belichick has fueled the tension between him and Kraft in recent years, too. He snubbed the Patriots owner in the acknowledgments section of his book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from a Life in Football.” Belichick also took issue with a comment Kraft made about taking a risk in hiring him in 2000, and seemed to take a jab at the Kraft family this past summer when he was asked about what’s different with college football than the NFL.
But the past might be water under the bridge between the two parties. When it was announced that Kraft and Belichick would be finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 in December, the now North Carolina head coach said he was hoping to see “all of the deserving Patriots selected this year.”
Kraft was just one of a few Patriots icons to speak up on behalf of Belichick on Wednesday. Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady also stood up for his former head coach.
Gronkowski, meanwhile, vouched for Belichick to make the Hall of Fame as a first-ballot honoree, pointing to his résumé and character.
“Absolutely asinine that he did not make it into the Hall of Fame as a first ballot,” Gronkowski told 98.5 The Sports Hub. “The guy has won more Super Bowls than anyone out there, six with the New England Patriots, two with the New York Giants as a defensive coordinator.
“This guy has touched so many lives. He has shared so much knowledge with the game of football. There are so many players and other coaches out there and fans as well, and he’s still sharing his knowledge being at the University of North Carolina. He deserved to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He’s clearly going to get in in the future, but it should’ve happened yesterday. That was a mistake.”
Former Patriots wide receiver and FOX Sports NFL analyst Julian Edelman, meanwhile, chimed in on social media with a simple post.
“smh,” Edelman wrote.
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