New England Patriots
“I said I’m not going to make a comment on it until we find out who’s in and who’s out.”
SAN FRANCISCO — It didn’t take long after news first broke that both Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft weren’t going to be elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 for Patriots fans to try and canvas which voters didn’t deem the influential duo worthy of a gold jacket.
Several media members who make up part of the 50-person voting panel have come forward to share their reasoning why they didn’t vote for Belichick — including the Kansas City Star’s Vahe Gregorian and Indianapolis reporter Mike Chappell.
Former Colts head coach Tony Dungy — a longtime rival of both Belichick and the Patriots — also holds one of the 50 votes on the Hall-of-Fame panel. Given his Indy ties, many Patriots fans have speculated that Dungy might have been one of the dissenting voices who chose to not vote for both Belichick and Kraft.
Speaking at NBC’s media event ahead of Super Bowl LX on Tuesday, Dungy refused to discuss his voting choices, especially as it pertains to two of the top architects of New England’s two-decade dynasty.
“First of all, we don’t know that they didn’t get inducted in the Hall of Fame,” Dungy told Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel. “I’m a voter. I have not heard who’s in or who’s out, so I’m not going to make a comment on it and speculate. We’ll find out, I think, on Thursday who’s in and who’s out.”
Glasspiegel then posed a follow-up — asking Dungy directly if he voted for either Belichick or Kraft.
His response was far more pointed.
“I said I’m not going to make a comment on it until we find out who’s in and who’s out,” he added.
Belichick — denied entry in his first year on the hall-of-fame ballot — won eight Super Bowls as a coach, including six over a 24-year span with New England as head coach.
The Patriots have the most wins (374) in the NFL since Kraft bought the team in 1994 — with a win over the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX moving New England into a tie with the Packers for the most playoff wins (37) in NFL history.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will be announced during the NFL Honors event on Thursday night in San Francisco.
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