It's not at all an exaggeration to say that I've visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio at least a dozen times in my life. Frankly, any football fan who hasn't made the trip is doing themselves a tremendous disservice. Across multiple floors and with the help of countless exhibits, football fans can learn more about America's Game over the course of one day spent at the Hall of Fame than they could if they read one football-related book a day for an entire year.
But as of earlier this week, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has stumbled into a problem that seems so egregious it almost sounds made up.
Bill Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl winning head coach of the New England Patriots -- don't forget, Belichick has an additional two Super Bowl rings as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants -- who won 333 regular season and postseason games combined over a head coaching career that spanned multiple decades, was not selected as a Hall of Famer during his first year on the ballot.
Now whether you love Belichick or you hate him -- and for the record, I'm somewhere in the middle, though over the years I've gained a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him not only for his success on the field but also his deep appreciation and almost encyclopedic knowledge of the game of football -- what you can't do without sounding like a complete and total blowhard is suggest that he is anything but a first ballot Hall of Famer.
And yet among the 50 individuals who vote on such matters each year, Belichick didn't receive the 40 votes he needed to make the Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
This development has understandably stunned the football world, with numerous players, coaches and analysts voicing their disgust with the decision made by the voters who are supposed to accurately account for who matters most when telling the story of the game of football. Sorry, but there are very few individuals who deserve more mentions in this story than Bill Belichick does.
One of the individuals who has come out and questioned the legitimacy of this vote is Houston Texans legend J.J. Watt, who like Belichick, should be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame the first time his name appears on the ballot. Watt took to social media to address the unthinkable snub.
"I can’t be reading this right," Watt said via his X account. "This has to be some knock-off Hall of Fame or something, it can’t be the actual NFL Hall of Fame. There is not a single world whatsoever in which Bill Belichick should not be a First-Ballot Hall of Famer."
Now it should be noted that the Pro Football Hall of Fame itself -- the museum, that is -- should not be held at fault here. This is still a place that football fans should make a trip to at some point in their lives, especially since the Hall released a statement that, without mentioning Belichick by name, is directly in response to the backlash of Belichick not being named a member of the Class of 2026.
"The Pro Football Hall of Fame understands and respects the passionate reaction of many fans, media members and enshrinees of the Hall itself in light of published reports regarding the voting results for the Class of 2026," the Hall said. "The Hall also respects the members of the Selection Committee when they follow the selection process bylaws. It is an honor to serve as a selector. Each year, the Hall reviews the selection process and the composition of the 50-person Selection Committee. If it is determined that any member(s) violated the selection process bylaws, they understand action will be taken.
"That could include the possibility that such selector(s) would not remain a member of the committee moving forward. The selection of a new class is the most important duty the Hall of Fame oversees each year, and the integrity of that process cannot be in question."
Perhaps this will be seen as a drastic overreaction, but any voter who didn't include Belichick on their ballot should be removed from the Selection Committee moving forward. There are a handful of players and coaches who, quite frankly, shouldn't even need to be part of the voting process. Individuals whose place in NFL lore is unassailable. Bill Belichick is one of those individuals, and if you can't see that, I'm not totally sure why you've been entrusted with the honor of being on the Selection Committee in the first place.