The sports world was shocked and outraged when news leaked this week that Bill Belichick was not voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. It may be the worst snub ever by the Hall’s selection committee.
But it wasn’t the first.
In fact, the legendary and well-decorated Belichick joins a long list of football legends who had to wait a year or more for their enshrinement in Canton, thanks to the fickleness of voters or the flaws of the complicated selection process. Here are the all-time top 10 first-ballot snubs:
Honorable mentions:
RB Curtis Martin
Still sixth all-time with 14,101 rushing yards and topped 1,100 yards in 10 of his 11 seasons.
Jimmy Johnson (coach)
Quickly turned the Dallas Cowboys from a dormant into a powerhouse, winning back-to-back Super Bowls before he left.
Jimmy Johnson on Bill Belichick not making the Hall of Fame, Miami
DT Alan Page
Ranks eighth all-time with 148.5 sacks, was an eight-time All-Pro and a member of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary team.
TE Antonio Gates
Top-five all-time among tight ends in catches and receiving yards, and first among tight ends with 116 touchdowns.
John Madden (coach)
Still has the greatest regular-season winning percentage among coaches in the last 100 years (102-37-7, .759). Won a Super Bowl with the Raiders and was a legend as a broadcaster, too.
Top 10
10. WR Marvin Harrison
Harrison still ranks fifth all-time in catches (1,102) and touchdowns (128), and ninth in receiving yards (14,580). He was also an eight-time All-Pro and a member of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary team. He was Peyton Manning’s go-to receiver for 13 years, and a big reason why the Colts went to the playoffs 10 times and won a Super Bowl during that span.
9. LB Kevin Greene
Greene still ranks fourth all-time with 160 sacks, which he split across five teams during his 15 NFL seasons. He had at least 10 sacks in 10 of those years, including seven of his last eight in the league, and led the league in sacks twice. He was a three-time All-Pro, was on the All-Decade team of the 1990s, and was one of the most disruptive pass rushers of the late 20th century.
8. CB Dick “Night Train” Lane
A disruptive defensive back and punishing tackler, “Night Train” was good enough to make the NFL’s 50th, 75th and 100th anniversary teams. He was a 10-time All-Pro who had 68 career interceptions. That included 27 in his first three seasons and an NFL-record 14 in just 12 games as a rookie in 1952 — a single-season record that still stands 73 years later.
7. WR Cris Carter
Despite playing in an era just before the NFL’s passing explosion, Carter still ranks sixth all-time in catches (1,101), fourth in touchdowns (130), and 13th in receiving yards (13,899). The three-time All-Pro was a member of the 1990s NFL All-Decade Team. The long-time Viking topped 120 catches in a season twice and 1,000 yards eight times. He also led the NFL in receiving touchdowns three times.
6. Joe Gibbs (coach)
During his first 12-year run as coach in Washington (1981-92), he took the franchise to the Super Bowl four times, winning three championships. He also had an incredible 124-60 (.673) record, went to the playoffs eight times, and had just one losing season. That would’ve been more than enough, but he returned for a second four-year run 12 years later (2004-07) and added two more postseason trips. His all-time postseason record was 17-7 and his teams were only eliminated in the first round twice. Gibbs was inducted into the Hall of Fame in between those two stints, though.
5. DE Michael Strahan
Strahan became the single-season Sack King with 22.5 in 2001, and made another run at the record two years later when he finished with 18.5. In all, he had 141.5 sacks in his 15 NFL seasons, which still ranks him 10th all-time. A six-time All-Pro, he was a member of the NFL’s All-Decade team in the 2000s and won a Super Bowl in his final career game. He is also considered one of the greatest run-stopping defensive ends of all time, too.
4. QB Fran Tarkenton
Known as “The Scrambler,” Trakenton is generally considered one of the first, dominant, dual-threat quarterbacks in the NFL. Despite playing in an era long before the NFL’s passing explosion, he still ranks 15th all-time with 47,003 passing yards in 18 seasons, and he ranks eighth all-time among quarterbacks with 3,674 yards. A nine-time Pro Bowler, he’s ranked on the lists of the 50 greatest players for two franchises (Vikings, Giants). He led the Vikings to the Super Bowl three times, though they lost each one.
3. Bill Walsh (coach)
Known as “The Genius” for good reason, Walsh pioneered the West Coast offense that took the NFL by storm in the late 1980s and beyond. In 10 years with San Francisco, he turned the 49ers into a dynasty, reaching the playoffs seven times in eight years (1981-88) and winning three Super Bowls along the way. Walsh had a 92-59-1 regular-season record and went 10-4 in the playoffs. His 10 49ers teams won 10 or more games seven times.
2. WR Terrell Owens
The victim of perhaps the most egregious Hall snub until this week, Owens was second on the NFL’s all-time receiving charts when he retired with 15,934 yards and 153 touchdown catches — behind only Jerry Rice in both categories. He still ranks third in both and ninth in catches (1,078). He was also a five-time All-Pro despite splitting his career amongst five teams. He was also a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team in the 2000s.
1. Bill Belichick (coach)
Where to begin? Belichick was the architect of perhaps the NFL’s greatest dynasty, leading the New England Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six championships in an 18-year span (2001-2018). He also won two Super Bowls as a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants before that. A three-time NFL Coach of the Year, Belichick was named a coach on the NFL’s All-Decade Teams of the 2000s and 2010s as well as their 100th anniversary team. Oh, and his 302 career wins in 29 seasons ranks third all-time, and his .647 winning percentage (302-165) is in the top 20. Add in his stellar 31-13 playoff record and his 333 total wins are second all-time.
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