It's still unknown who might've swung Bill Belichick's chances at landing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-ballot honoree.
The third-most winningest coach in NFL history, who is also the winningest coach in Super Bowl history, absolutely deserved the honor. Instead, he has to wait until next year to see if he can get the nod from the committee. But, it shouldn't have come down to that. Belichick has one of the most sure-fire admissions into Canton amongst coaches, and yet, he's been snubbed.
One voter, former coach and NFL player Tony Dungy, doesn't really seem to want to disclose whether or not he voted for Belichick in this round. Instead, he's blaming the way voters are asked to submit their ballots. He said during an appearance on NBC Sports ahead of Super Bowl 60:
"...here's the problem: we voted for three people. There are two other slots available. Bill Belichick definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Robert Kraft deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. L.C. Greenwood deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Ken Anderson deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. But because of a change that the Hall of Fame made two years ago, none of those guys got in."
Rodney Harrison, a former New England Patriots safety, had to buck back against that argument:
"Any list that doesn't include Bill Belichick at the top is absolutely wrong. And, a lot of those players that we mentioned, they're great players. But there's nobody more deserving to be in that Hall of Fame than Coach Belichick. I've seen his greatness, I've seen him design defenses to stop your offense...he's been unbelievable. When I look out across the Hall of Fame, even a guy like Tom Brady, Tom Brady wouldn't be Tom Brady without Bill Belichick. That's the disappointing part of it, coach, and you guys got it wrong."
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Harrison is 100 percent correct here. If there's going to be anyone that can vouch for Belichick's deservedness, it's a former player who succeeded with the team under him. Harrison won two championships with Belichick and Brady. Dungy, on the other hand, simply sounds like a voter who wanted to prioritize other nominees over a former nemesis in Belichick.
Belichick, and Kraft, are likely to get another shot for the 2027 class. But, it's becoming ridiculous that voters seem to be willing to place blame everywhere but with their own ballots. They were in control of what happened in that room, and with things going awry enough to block Belichick for this year, it's obvious that they have to bear that blame.