‘Completely ridiculous’: Tom Brady criticizes Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame snub

Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady weighed in on the apparent snub of his former coach, Bill Belichick, in Pro Football Hall of Fame balloting.

Brady, who teamed with Belichick to win six Super Bowl titles in nine appearances with the New England Patriots, said during a radio interview on Wednesday that the decision by Hall of Fame voters to keep the coach out of pro football’s shrine was “completely ridiculous.”

The coach was left off 11 ballots, according to Bleacher Report.

Belichick, 73, who was in his first year of eligibility for enshrinement in Canton, failed to receive 80% -- 40 of the 50 votes cast -- needed for election.

“I don’t understand it,” the three-time NFL MVP said during an interview with a Seattle radio station. “I mean, I was with him every day. If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, which is completely ridiculous because people deserve it.”

Brady, a five-time Super Bowl champion -- four times with the Patriots and once with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- stressed that Belichick will eventually earn a Hall of Fame bust, calling him “incredible.”

“There’s no coach I’d rather play for,” Brady said. “If I’m picking one coach to go out there to win a Super Bowl -- give me one season -- I’m taking Bill Belichick. So that’s enough said.

“Outside of that, when it comes down to votes and popularity and all that, then welcome to the world of voting. You may as well try out for the Oscars or whatever and get a big panel to tell you if you’re good or not. It’s the way it works, unfortunately.”

ESPN, citing “four sources with firsthand knowledge of the outcome,” originally reported that Belichick fell short of the votes he needed for induction.

Belichick, the second-winningest coach in NFL history with 333 regular-season victories behind Hall of Famer Don Shula (347), received a call on Jan. 23 from a representative of the Hall that he would not be inducted this year.

ESPN reported that Belichick was “puzzled” and “disappointed” by the decision.

The snub caused backlash on social media, with former players, coaches and opponents from the past and present voicing their displeasure.

That list included JJ Watt, Patrick Mahomes and Jimmy Johnson.

According to The Athletic, Belichick was selected from the coaches category this year over Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seifert and Mike Shanahan.

The full Hall of Fame class will be announced on Feb. 5 at the NFL Honors show. Voters’ ballots and voting totals are not made public.

ESPN, quoting “multiple sources,” said that the cheating scandals known as Spygate and Deflategate, was discussed during deliberations and may have played a role in Belichick’s exclusion from the Class of 2026.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who is also under consideration for the Hall in the contributor category, praised his former coach in a statement to The Associated Press.

“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. “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.

“He is the greatest coach of all time and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.”

On Wednesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame released a statement, the AP reported. It did not specifically name Belichick, but the organization said it “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 stated that “action will be taken” if one or multiple voters committed a violation of the selection process."

Vahe Gregorian of The Kansas City Star posted an article explaining why he left Belichick off his ballot, NBC Sports reported.

Writing in the Star, Gregorian said cast his three votes to senior committee candidates Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood. He left Belichick and Kraft off his ballot.

“As the presentations and discussions proceeded, I found myself wanting to vote for all five — including Steelers great Greenwood, a four-time Super Bowl champ who was All-Decade in the 1970s, and Bengals quarterback Anderson, the 1981 MVP who led the league in passer rating four times,” Gregorian wrote. “All three have been long deserving of induction in the Hall. All three have been, well, snubbed for decades.

“I felt duty-bound to vote for the richly deserving seniors, who most likely won’t ever have a hearing again as more senior candidates enter the pool and fresh cases get made for others. Meanwhile, Belichick is inevitable soon ... as he should be. At the risk of contradicting my own vote, really, he shouldn’t even have to wait.”

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