The New England Patriots are attempting to win a seventh Super Bowl title on February 8th, facing off against the Seattle Seahawks for the second time since the miraculous 2014 ending. It's been a special season for New England, and relatively unexpected, too.
Many Patriots fans surely thought the team was going to be better than 2024, but the Pats definitely exceeded expectations with a breakout 14-3 regular season. Had New England not fallen to the Las Vegas Raiders all the way back in Week 1, they would have earned the top seed in the AFC. It truly appears like another Patriots dynasty is on the horizon.
New England had a nice 20-year run when the 21st century rolled around, arguably having the greatest dynasty in the history of sports. The team managed to win six Super Bowl titles and cemented a legacy as the most storied franchise in the NFL. Well, a major part of that dynasty, Bill Belichick, was somehow not voted into the Hall of Fame this year on the first ballot. To add insult to injury, another key Patriot recently had this fate.
Robert Kraft is the latest Patriot snubbed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame
The news keeps getting worse, and it's flat-out nonsensical that this has happened twice now, with Bill Belichick and now owner Robert Kraft:
Patriots owner Robert Kraft, like his former head coach Bill Belichick, was not selected for entry into this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class, sources told ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 3, 2026
The Class of 2026 will be revealed Thursday at NFL Honors in San Francisco, but it will not include Kraft. pic.twitter.com/W0YBwnxsq8
Where do we even begin here? With both Kraft and Belichick snubbed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot, the process now reeks of ugly politics. Belichick himself has the second-most wins in the history of the NFL, including the playoffs, and also has eight total Super Bowl rings, six with the Patriots and two with the New York Giants.
Belichick did not receive the required 80% support from the Hall of Fame voters and was rightfully puzzled by that decision. Kraft, unfortunately, has endured the same fate. Now, yes, it's very likely that both Belichick and Kraft will be in the Hall of Fame at some point in the very near future, but not being first-ballot HOFers really makes you wonder how inconsistent of a process the voters must have here.
At the end of the day, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft have all-time legacies, and that's an objective truth, but being snubbed like this from the Hall of Fame says much more about the voting process than it does the coach and owner.
Belichick's tenure with the Patriots after Tom Brady left was a bit shaky, but was far from disqualifying from the Hall of Fame, and I don't even know where to begin with Robert Kraft - he's one of the best owners in sports and was the architect of the first Patriots' dynasty, and may have just found his way into another one.