{"id":726549,"date":"2026-02-03T15:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/726549\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:41:13","slug":"patriots-owner-robert-kraft-also-reportedly-falls-short-in-hall-of-fame-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/726549\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots owner Robert Kraft also reportedly falls short in Hall of Fame vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neither Bill Belichick nor Robert Kraft will receive a bust in Canton this year.<\/p>\n

Like Belichick, Kraft also did not meet the voting threshold<\/a> for inclusion in the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter reported Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Both needed to receive votes from at least 80% the 50-person senior committee, each member of which could cast ballots for up to three of this year\u2019s five finalists (Belichick, Kraft and former players Roger Craig, Ken Anderson and L.C. Greenwood).<\/p>\n

Evidently, neither did, despite leading one of the most successful and longest-running dynasties in the history of modern professional sports. In 24 seasons with Belichick as the Patriots\u2019 head coach and Kraft as team owner before their messy split in 2024, New England reached nine Super Bowls and won six.<\/p>\n

The Patriots also appeared in one Super Bowl earlier in Kraft\u2019s ownership tenure, which began when he bought the franchise in 1994, and will play in another this Sunday when they face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n

Belichick\u2019s Hall of Fame snub, which came in the coach\u2019s first year of eligibility, drew widespread criticism<\/a> last week, both of the voters\u2019 judgment and of the system used to elect senior candidates. That system operates separately from how modern-era inductees are chosen.<\/p>\n

The 84-year-old Kraft said in a statement last Wednesday that Belichick \u201cis the greatest coach of all time, and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever perceptions may exist about any personal differences between Bill and me, I strongly believe Bill Belichick\u2019s record and body of work speak for themselves,\u201d Kraft said. \u201cAs 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his annual Super Bowl week news conference, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he believes Belichick and Kraft both will eventually be inducted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Belichick\u2019s record goes without saying, same with the Patriots and Robert Kraft, who is also a candidate,\u201d Goodell told reporters Monday. \u201cThey are spectacular. They have contributed so much to this game, and I believe they will be Hall of Famers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodell, speaking before Kraft\u2019s snub was reported, called Belichick missing the Hall of Fame cut \u201ca timing issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people who are deserving of this, so I think that\u2019s something that the media will have to make that determination as they go,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there are a lot of people who want to be in the Hall of Fame, and Bill Belichick deserves to be in that Hall of Fame, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neither Bill Belichick nor Robert Kraft will receive a bust in Canton this year. Like Belichick, Kraft also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[3851,103578,7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,19671,208,11350,95742,837,104903,1902],"class_list":{"0":"post-726549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-bill-belichick","9":"tag-bill-belichick-hall-of-fame","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-new-england","12":"tag-new-england-patriots","13":"tag-newengland","14":"tag-newenglandpatriots","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-nfl-hall-of-fame","17":"tag-patriots","18":"tag-patriots-hall-of-fame","19":"tag-patriots-super-bowl","20":"tag-robert-kraft","21":"tag-robert-kraft-hall-of-fame","22":"tag-roger-goodell"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116007461626528546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726549","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=726549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}