Relax! Bill Belichick Will Get in the HOF

Belichick's pro career although legendary leaves behind a trail of arrogrance that doesn't sit well with some.

Everyone needs to calm the heck down when it comes to Bill Belichick being left out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-ballot inductee.

By now, it’s well known—and loudly debated by every sports media talking head with a microphone—that the six-time Super Bowl–winning coach did not receive the required 40 of 50 votes needed for first-ballot induction into Canton’s hallowed halls. The reaction has been frankly, a little ridiculous. People are losing their minds in disbelif. Can this really be?

Honestly, can we just relax?

Belichick is going to get into the Hall of Fame. It is absolutely inevitable. At this point, it’s simply a matter of when, not if. Yet everyone and their little sister seems to be yelling from the rooftops about what a disgrace this supposedly is.

My co-host on Full Ride, Rick Neuheisel, is working with NFL Radio this week at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. He told me the Belichick conversation among NFL executives and the media covering the event has been deafening. Football lifers genuinely can’t wrap their heads around how the guy who defined an era, dominance cloaked in a hoodie, wasn’t a lock as a first-ballot legend.

I get the confusion. I just don’t share the outrage.

I honestly think it’s fine, and quite frankly, I don’t mind it. Is Bill Belichick an all-time great? Yes. Full stop. But is he also covered in warts and flaws that draped over his career like a winter blanket? Absolutely.

Let’s not pretend those don’t exist.

We all remember Deflategate following the 2014 AFC Championship Game, a miserable chapter for football fans. The Patriots were found to have used underinflated footballs, Tom Brady was suspended (and later reinstated by a federal judge), and the entire saga devolved into a murky, exhausting mess. Was it an enormous competitive advantage? Was it overblown? Reasonable people still disagree. But did it leave a stain and irritate powerful people around the league? For sure.

Then there’s Spygate—and to me, this was worse.

This one was real. Documented. Undeniable. The Patriots were caught videotaping opponents’ signals from prohibited locations. Bill Belichick was fined $500,000. The team was fined $250,000 and lost a first-round draft pick. You don’t lose a first-round pick over a misunderstanding. This wasn’t gray. It was a blatant violation, and it flew directly in the face of the league’s stated commitment to competitive integrity.

They were Connor Stallions before Connor Stallions.

That stuff matters. Especially to Hall of Fame voters.

And then there’s the attitude. Belichick may have Hall of Fame credentials, but his ability, or inability, to communicate with others puts him squarely in the Jerk Store Hall of Fame. If this were a Seinfeld episode, there’s no doubt Belichick would be its all-time bestseller.

Is it really that surprising he doesn’t currently have an NFL job?

He’s still coaching, of course, trying to build a Miami-esque winner in the ACC at North Carolina. But look around the league. The Browns. The Steelers. The Dolphins. Job openings came and went. A six-time Super Bowl champion head coach was available, and no one pulled the trigger. That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because nobody wants to deal with him.

And we haven’t even mentioned the off-field distractions. The attention surrounding his relationship with Jordon Hudson hasn’t helped, nor did the now-infamous CBS interview meant to promote his book, which quickly veered into awkward territory and raised eyebrows league-wide. Fair or not, perception matters.

I’m not even factoring in Belichick’s post–Tom Brady record in New England or his early results at North Carolina. The résumé is still historic. The legacy is still secure. But the guy made a lot of enemies on his way to all that winning.

Belichick is gruff. He’s arrogant. He rubbed people the wrong way for two decades while hoisting Lombardi Trophies. Maybe, just maybe, making him wait a year or two isn’t the crime against football some are pretending it is.

He’ll get in. He should get in. But first ballot?

It’s OK if the Hall of Fame asked him to sit with the rest of us for a minute

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