{"id":715382,"date":"2026-01-30T01:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/715382\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T01:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:58:16","slug":"another-hall-of-fame-voter-reveals-why-he-didnt-pick-bill-belichick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/715382\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Hall of Fame voter reveals why he didn’t pick Bill Belichick"},"content":{"rendered":"

A second Pro Football Hall of Fame voter has admitted to passing on Bill Belichick<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

FOX59\/CBS4 Sports reporter Mike Chappell, who has covered the Colts for more than four decades, said his non-Belichick vote came down to a choice between the head coach and someone who was very close to the to him during his days in New England.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs one of 50 selectors, I voted FOR Robert Kraft, the long-time and accomplished New England Patriots owner,\u201d Chappell wrote in a column on Thursday<\/a>. \u201cI did not vote AGAINST Bill Belichick, the long-time and accomplished head coach of that dynasty. I realize that\u2019s a difference without a distinction, but I\u2019m comfortable with my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick twirls his whistle during an NFL football practice, Sept. 18, 2019, in Foxborough, Mass. AP<\/p>\n

Chappell is the second of at least 11 voters who didn\u2019t put Belichick on their ballot to go public, joining the Kansas City Star\u2019s Vahe Gregorian<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Gregorian, the Hall\u2019s voting process, which forced committee members to choose up to three names from a group consisting of Belichick, Kraft, and \u201csenior\u201d members Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood, was part of Chappell\u2019s reasoning.<\/p>\n

Chappell said he used two of his votes on senior candidates who might be facing their final chance at making it into Canton, Ohio, and was then left to decide on Belichick and Kraft.<\/p>\n

In the end, the latter won out, and Chappell took the time to lay out the reasons why.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKraft\u2019s role in building the Patriots dynasty beginning in 1994 AND his undeniable role in helping negotiate the end of the 100-play-day work stoppage in 2011 \u2014 while his wife was gravely ill \u2014 that has resulted in long-standing labor peace,\u201d Chappell wrote of his pro-Kraft stance. \u201cHe\u2019s also been involved behind the scenes in bolstering the NFL\u2019s ever-increasing TV revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewHead coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on during the AFC Divisional Playoff Game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium on January 13, 2019 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Getty Images<\/p>\n

One big thing was working against Belichick in Chappell\u2019s eyes \u2014 Spygate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no erasing the stain of Spygate from his bio,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThis wasn\u2019t alleged behavior. The NFL fined Belichick $500,000 \u2014 the maximum allowed \u2014 along with docking the Patriots $250,000 and a first-round draft pick for illegally videotaping New York Jets signals in 2007.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with all the scandals, Chappell said Belichick is still a Hall of Famer, just not over his former boss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s decision in no way insinuates Belichick isn\u2019t Hall of Fame-worthy,\u201d Chappell added. \u201cOf course he is. I believe he makes it next year. Will that mean his gold jacket isn\u2019t as bold had he been selected in his first year of eligibility? Of course not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A second Pro Football Hall of Fame voter has admitted to passing on Bill Belichick.\u00a0 FOX59\/CBS4 Sports reporter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[3851,7,249,6,1371,837,9,203],"class_list":{"0":"post-715382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-bill-belichick","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pro-football-hall-of-fame","13":"tag-robert-kraft","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-sports-media"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115981577508002284","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}