| The first two days of the week produced the Bills circling back to OC Joe Brady after a long search elsewhere and Todd Monken emerging as Cleveland’s choice after he satisfied their long list of conditions including a willingness to have Jim Schwartz as his DC (but maybe not, see CLEVELAND). As a consequence, Brian Daboll, also thought to be in the Bills running, heads to Tennessee to team with Robert Saleh. Meanwhile, the Giants OC job under John Harbaugh, which seemed to be Monkton’s, will now be available. Meanwhile, the Cardinals and Raiders have the last two open jobs – perhaps for people like playoff coordinators like Klint Kubiak of the Seahawks and Chris Shula of the Rams. |
| AFC WEST |
| DENVERSo – perhaps to keep hot prospect Davis Webb on board – Sean Payton has jettisoned two members of his offensive staff including OC Joe Lombardi. Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com: The Denver Broncos fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Tuesday, just two days after head coach Sean Payton said the team’s offense “didn’t do enough” to earn a Super Bowl trip. Wide receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch also were fired. “I want to thank these coaches for playing an important role in elevating our program over the last three seasons,” Payton said in a prepared statement. “I’ve been fortunate to work with Joe Lombardi for 15 years and am particularly grateful for his many contributions to our success as offensive coordinator. We sincerely appreciate Joe, Keary and Addison’s hard work and wish them all the best in the future.” With backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in the lineup for an injured Bo Nix, the Broncos gained just 32 yards in the second half of Sunday’s 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, had only one first down after halftime and didn’t have a possession in the third or fourth quarters longer than 17 yards. After the loss, Payton was asked what he would be most critical of in the aftermath, and he said he would start with himself, adding: “I think the big thing, that first half, momentum and field position didn’t yield what it needed to yield, we needed more than that. It’ll start there.” Lombardi spent 12 years, over two different stints, on Payton’s staff with the New Orleans Saints and had been the Broncos’ offensive coordinator since Payton was hired in 2023. Payton, however, is the team’s playcaller on game days. As the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, Lombardi was in the coaches’ booth and among those on the headset with Payton during games, but Payton was the voice in Nix’s helmet. The Broncos sported one of the league’s best defenses this season — No. 1 in sacks and in the red zone in the regular season, second on third down and third in scoring defense and best in yards surrendered per play overall (4.46). Fueled by that defense, the Broncos also went 11-2 in one-score games in the regular season, the most one-score wins in NFL history, before winning another one-score game, in overtime, over the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round. But Payton had expressed his frustrations about the offense at various times this season, including Sunday night following the loss to the Patriots when the Broncos, as the snow swirled in the second half, made it into Patriots territory just once after halftime only to have a potential tying field goal blocked. The Broncos were 14th in the regular season in scoring — 23.6 points per game — 10th in offensive EPA and 12th in QBR, but they finished 29th in three-and-outs (25% of drives). In his end-of-season news conference Tuesday, Payton expressed particular frustration with the team’s run game and said he had already met Monday with run game coordinator/assistant head coach Zach Strief, who also coaches the offensive line, about a plan for improvement. “That’ll be an important study and with urgency,” Payton said in Denver. “I want to play from the gun, but I also will always want to play with a two-back or multiple-tight end mindset [and] have that flexibility. … I think it’s one of the key things that we have to do this offseason.” J.K. Dobbins suffered what turned out to be a season-ending foot injury in the Broncos’ Nov. 6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, yet he still finished as the team’s leading rusher — by 232 yards — and had the team’s most runs of 10 yards or more (21), seven more than the next running back (rookie RJ Harvey). Internally, the two most likely candidates to fill the OC job would be Strief, whom Payton promoted to assistant head coach last offseason, and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb, who is still a candidate in the Raiders’ search for a head coach. Broncos senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael was also the Saints’ offensive coordinator for much of Payton’s tenure. However, Payton has consistently said he will not surrender playcalling duties, so unless he has a major change of heart in that regard, the Broncos’ offensive coordinator will be a prominent voice in the weekly planning as well as in Payton’s ear on game day, but Payton will still call plays. Many inside the Broncos’ complex believe that will make it difficult to keep Webb long term even if he doesn’t get a head coaching job in this hiring cycle. |
| AFC NORTH |
| CLEVELANDTodd Monken is in. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: The Browns and Todd Monken have made it official. The team announced that Monken has been hired as their new head coach on Wednesday. Monken has spent the last three seasons as the offensive coordinator in Baltimore and had a one-season stint in the same role in Cleveland in 2019. He was the head coach at Southern Miss and also served as Georgia’s offensive coordinator before joining the Ravens in 2023. Browns General Manager Andrew Berry referenced that Georgia stint on Kirby Smart’s staff as well as his time in Baltimore in a statement on Wednesday. “Todd has a varied and diverse background that we found as a particularly appealing match for our team at this stage in its life cycle,” Berry said. “He has a direct, demanding, and detail-oriented leadership style that will create a great incubator for a young team. His successful offensive track record at both the pro and college level with a variety of offensive systems and QB skill sets will allow maximum flexibility as we make several, long-term investments on that side of the ball. The lessons he learned from John Harbaugh and Kirby Smart as well as his demonstrated track record turning around Southern Miss have shown us that he has a full understanding of what the position requires and the capacity to execute. We cannot wait to get started and we welcome Todd, Terri and Travis to Cleveland.” DC Jim Schwartz, a head coach finalist, was reportedly distraught to learn that Monken was chosen. So he may try to get out of his contract. Matt Ehalt of the New York Post: Jim Schwartz won’t stick around after being passed over. The Browns’ defensive coordinator was “visibly upset” and told other assistants he would be leaving after learning Cleveland was hiring Todd Monken as its head coach, according to NFL Network. Schwartz had been labeled the favorite recently and reportedly expected to land the gig, but is now set to leave the franchise after three years — and the 49ers are a potential match, per NFL Network. The polarizing veteran coach had been the looming figure over the Browns’ coaching search both as a potential staff holdover and serious candidate for the position. The organization wanted to retain him should they go in a different direction, which can always create an issue with an incoming staff. Reports emerged stating some candidates did not want Schwartz on their staff, which could have put the franchise at odds with potential options. As those reports surfaced, Schwartz joined Monken, Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski and Rams passing coordinator Nate Scheelhaase as the four candidates to conduct two interviews. Schwartz possessed the only previous head coaching experience of the quartet from his time guiding the Lions from 2009-13, but the franchise opted for a rival’s offensive coordinator. Monken had been willing to keep Schwartz, per Cleveland.com, but he will now have to find a new man to lead Myles Garrett and a talent defensive unit. “We are very excited to name Todd Monken the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns,” The Haslam family said in a statement. “Todd is highly intelligent, and his experienced, innovative offensive mindset has been at the forefront of constructing productive and successful offenses at the NFL and collegiate level over the last 20 years. He is an outstanding leader and has a clear vision to lead our team as a strong communicator who values trust with his players but also accountability and preparation.”– – -We don’t know if John Harbaugh wanted him with the Giants, but Monken is bringing the Ravens offensive line coach. Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com: The Browns are hiring offensive line coach George Warhop, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. Warhop is following Todd Monken from Baltimore, where Warhop was the offensive line coach for the past two seasons. He previously coached for Cleveland from 2009-13. Warhop has also worked as an offensive line coach for the Rams (1996-97), Cardinals (1998-2002), Cowboys (2003-04), 49ers (2005-08), Bucs (2014-18), Jaguars (2019-21) and Texans (2022). The Browns have four opening-day starters who are scheduled for free agency, so Monken, Warhop and the personnel department will have some work to do on the offensive line. |
| PITTSBURGHSome news about Mike McCarthy’s coaching staff including DC Patrick Graham: The Steelers are continuing to round out their coaching staff with an assistant from the AFC West. According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steelers are close to hiring Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator. Graham, 47, had been with the Raiders since 2022 when he was hired by Josh McDaniels to be the club’s defensive coordinator. He stayed on under former Raiders coaches Antonio Pierce and Pete Carroll. Graham previously worked for the Patriots from 2009-2015 as a defensive assistant. He then was the Giants’ defensive line coach from 2016-2017 before McCarthy hired him in 2018 to be Green Bay’s linebackers coach and run game coordinator. From there, Graham was the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator in 2019 and the Giants’ assistant head coach and defensive coordinator from 2020-2021. Additionally, Dulac reports McCarthy is looking to hire former Packers offensive line coach James Campen and former Cowboys assistant line coach Ramon Chinyoung. McCarthy is also expected to retain three members of former head coach Mike Tomlin’s staff: linebackers coach Scott McCurley, quarterbacks coach Tom Arth, and secondary coach Gerald Alexander. |
| AFC EAST |
| BUFFALOTim Graham of The Athletic is “blah” about the hiring of OC JOE BRADY to follow Sean McDermott: The switch might work. But based on what we heard last week, the reasons sound disingenuous. Much of the fan angst from the Buffalo Bills’ decision to fire coach Sean McDermott emanated from the diametric decision to promote general manager Brandon Beane. On Tuesday, the Bills promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady to head coach. The sequence of events is uninspiring and feels very personal. Bills owner Terry Pegula is happy enough with his operation that he’s handing out plum promotions — except to the man many credit with establishing Buffalo’s culture after a 17-year playoff drought. That man got fired. Pegula sat alongside Beane for nearly an hour and told us the team must change. Pegula spoke of the emotional wreckage he saw in the locker room after the overtime playoff loss to the Denver Broncos. He spoke about a “proverbial playoff wall.” He spoke about not wanting to waste his MVP quarterback anymore. “He felt that this team needed a different voice after what he witnessed and was a part of in the locker room after the Denver game,” Beane said of Pegula’s decision. Then the Bills hired the coach Josh Allen has listened to most for four years, the offensive coordinator whose team had the ball with a chance to win each of the last three times it was eliminated from the postseason. Brady has done some of the masonry in that playoff wall. Brady interviewed for almost three-quarters of this year’s vacancies, including the Cardinals, Falcons, Ravens, Raiders and Dolphins. Yes, it’s possible McDermott lost the locker room, although reactions from players such as defensive tackles DaQuan Jones and Jordan Phillips and nickelback Taron Johnson refuted that notion. But Brady’s voice is not new; his performance during four years of Buffalo’s frustration is not unimpeachable. The move could pay the most glorious dividend, a Lombardi Trophy. But it doesn’t feel like we’ve been told the entire truth. Brady was among nine candidates Buffalo spoke with, although nobody received a second interview. The front office on Tuesday quickly let reporters know Brady articulating his vision as the team’s CEO “was a home run.” That was considered McDermott’s strength, too, when he was chosen in 2017. We won’t know about Brady’s maiden staff for a little while, but he will have to walk through One Bills Drive and fire offensive assistants, or he won’t, and confusion over firing McDermott will grow even deeper. Brady, 36, has never assembled a staff. His first defensive coordinator will be the most critical hire. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported that Denver Broncos defensive pass coordinator and former Bills safety Jim Leonhard is a leading candidate for the gig. The Bills already lost special teams coordinator Chris Tabor to the Miami Dolphins. Brady’s largest offensive staffing question will be replacing offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, who maintained a substantial role in play calling as a de facto run game coordinator. McDermott once explained to me how Kromer fed Brady which run plays to call in real time during games. James Cook became Buffalo’s first NFL rushing king in half a century. The Bills also led the NFL in rushing yards, their 5.0 yards per carry second to only the Baltimore Ravens. Kromer protégé Austin Gund was Buffalo’s assistant O-line coach and could return. Buffalo must also square the circle Pegula drew around receiver Keon Coleman last week. In trying to defend Beane for drafting Coleman 33rd in 2024, Pegula pointed a finger at the coaches. Pegula later told the Associated Press he wasn’t referring to McDermott, which puts Brady, passing game specialist Marc Lubick, receivers coach Adam Henry and assistant receivers coach DJ Mangas on the hook. The last eight days have consolidated power at One Bills Drive. That means the credit will be consolidated, as will be the blame if this change doesn’t equate to a Super Bowl appearance soon. Rather than Beane and McDermott reporting individually to Pegula and drafting Allen, every substantial leader left in the building is aligned from Allen on up. Allen was involved in the head coaching interviews and will be viewed as having signed off on Brady, who will report to Beane, who got his wish to name the head coach of his choice and who will report to Pegula. But the Bills said they needed a new voice, needed to maximize Allen, needed a new direction. Brady has been here four years already. Let’s see how much longer he can make it. To clarify, OL coach Aaron Kromer is “expected to retire” per previous reports. He’s only 58 though. |
| NEW ENGLANDShould we be worried about QB DRAKE MAYE’s shoulder? Mike Reiss of ESPN.com: With one day until their first practice for Super Bowl LX, the New England Patriots said quarterback Drake Maye wouldn’t have been a full participant had they practiced Wednesday because of his banged-up right shoulder. Per league rules, both New England and the Seattle Seahawks were required to submit projected injury reports Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s first practice. Starting linebacker Robert Spillane (ankle) and veteran edge rusher Harold Landry (knee) also wouldn’t have practiced, according to the Patriots. Maye acknowledged having “bumps and bruises” after Sunday’s win over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game. In the third quarter, at the end of a 13-yard run, he was tackled by Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga and landed hard on his right shoulder. Maye downplayed any concerns after Sunday’s game, saying “a lot of those guys in that locker room are battling through things.” On Tuesday, coach Mike Vrabel said no player was 100% healthy at this time in the season. Whatever repetitions Maye doesn’t take at practice probably would go to nine-year veteran backup Joshua Dobbs. The Patriots also have Tommy DeVito as the third option on the depth chart. Maye was 10-of-21 for 86 yards and was sacked five times in Sunday’s game. He rushed 10 times for 65 yards and a touchdown. The majority of the second half was played in snowy, windy conditions. He was asked Tuesday during his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI if he had suffered a right shoulder injury. “I’m feeling good,” Maye said, repeating himself for effect. “Going to get some extra rest. I really don’t think it was from the game, but just the build-up from throwing — this is what, including training camp, 30 weeks of straight of throwing, four days a week. It can add up. I got some extra rest, feeling good, and ready to go for the Super Bowl.” |
| THIS AND THAT |
| FRANK AND STRETCHThe NFL, and the DB, lost two longtime contributors to its growth in the last two days – Ron McGugins and Frank Ramos. McGugins, known as “Stretch” after playing at 6-6 for Lou Carneseca at St. John’s, went into TV production after graduation. He was a skilled graphics operator, not only for FOX football’s Summerall and Madden crew among others, but for the David Letterman Show where he typed the Top Ten list. Always polite, always calm in a storm, McGugins was a technical producer when he lost his battle with cancer. After his basketball days waned, his passion was salsa music as a DJ and dancer. We doubt anyone who knew Ron would not have a fond memory. Ramos, although not nearly as tall as McGugins, still cast a long shadow in the NFL during his nearly four-decade run with the Jets. Beginning in 1963, Ramos was there when Joe Namath arrived, got a Super Bowl ring, then endured with grace through the decades the followed. A Long Island native, he went to high school in Miami, then on to Florida State. After an early job at the U.S. Military Academy, it was on to the Jets until 2002. Retired to Miami with Jackie, his beloved wife of 61 years, he was 87 when he passed on Tuesday. Personally and professionally disciplined with a nice sprinkling of humor, many of his practices in releases and other forms of media relations enhanced the growth of NFL public relations operations. Namath speaks for just about anyone who played for the Jets. “Frank was a really fine man,” Namath told ESPN on Tuesday night. “His job sometimes wasn’t easy. Ballplayers, we have up and downs and get cranky at times, but Frank knew how to approach us. “He was a wonderful gentleman, and I was just so thankful that I came to the realization of how good he was, how good a man he was. He was wonderful at his job. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a foul remark or criticism of Frank. He was a blessing in my life.” This from Rich Cimini of ESPN.com sums up Ramos well: Sad news: Former Jets public relations director Frank Ramos has passed away. He was 87. He worked for the Jets from 1963-2002, never missing a game. He saw it all, from Namath to Testaverde. A true gentleman who understood the role of the media. Mentored many in the PR industry. Once hired a young intern named Roger Goodell. Honored by the @ProFootballHOF. RIP. #Jets Two special people, we will miss them both. |
| BILL BELICHICK DOES NOT MAKE HALL OF FAMEDon Van Natta and Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com break the news that Bill Belichick will not be a first-year Hall of Famer: Bill Belichick, the eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach, is not a first-ballot Hall of Famer. In voting earlier this month, Belichick fell short of the 40 out of 50 votes needed for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility, four sources with firsthand knowledge of the outcome told ESPN. Belichick received a call from a Hall representative Friday afternoon with the news that he won’t be inducted in Canton, Ohio, this summer. Several sources who spoke with the coach over the weekend described Belichick as “puzzled” and “disappointed” by his inability to secure support from at least 80% of Hall committee members. “Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?” Belichick asked an associate, referring to the championships he won as head coach of the New England Patriots. He won two more as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. To another associate, he said, “What does a guy have to do?” Another source familiar with Belichick’s thinking said, “Politics kept him out. He doesn’t believe this is a reflection on his accomplishments.” Belichick declined comment to ESPN. “The Pro Football Hall of Fame does not comment on the voting of the Selection Committee and awaits the unveiling of the Class of 2026 at ‘NFL Honors’ on Feb. 5 in San Francisco,” a spokesperson for the Hall said in a statement. With an NFL coaching record of 333-178, including playoffs — career victories second only to Don Shula’s 347 — Belichick was considered by most fans and Hall voters to be a first-ballot lock. The Hall’s voting committee is composed mostly of veteran NFL reporters but also includes football figures such as former general manager Bill Polian and former coach Tony Dungy, both of whom are Hall of Famers. This year, Belichick was a finalist with Robert Kraft, the Patriots owner and Belichick’s co-architect of an NFL dynasty in New England. It marked the first time that Kraft, 84, was a Hall finalist after 14 years of campaigning on his behalf by his team’s longtime PR man and other supporters. Kraft and Belichick have become bitter antagonists since parting ways in January 2024. It’s unknown whether Kraft, or any other finalist, received the necessary votes for induction. On Jan. 13, voters met from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to discuss and debate the qualifications of this year’s finalists, which also included three senior candidates: former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson, San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig and the late L.C. Greenwood, who was a defensive end for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Multiple sources told ESPN that Spygate and Deflategate, the twin cheating scandals during the Patriots’ championship run, came up in deliberations among voters. A voter who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Polian, an ardent Kraft supporter and former general manager of the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts — a chief Patriots rival during their dynasty — told some voters he believed Belichick should “wait a year” before induction as penance for Spygate, the 2007 cheating scandal that cost the team a first-round draft pick. Commissioner Roger Goodell also fined Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000. “The only explanation [for the outcome] was the cheating stuff,” a veteran Hall voter told ESPN on Tuesday. “It really bothered some of the guys.” In an interview with ESPN on Tuesday night, Polian denied telling fellow voters that Belichick should serve a one-year penance for Spygate. He said he heard his fellow voters “float that idea” but insisted he didn’t agree or disagree with the proposal. Polian said he voted for Kraft and even spoke up on his behalf during the deliberations, saying Kraft had no knowledge of the Spygate scheme. Polian added that he could not remember with 100% certainty if he voted for Belichick, saying he was 95% sure he voted for the coach and a player, “most likely” Greenwood. “I was shocked to learn Bill didn’t get in,” Polian said. “He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.” When told that Belichick isn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer, Peter King, a 32-year Hall of Fame voter who is now retired from the committee, said: “Holy f—! … I’m very, very surprised. “A lot of things happen in that room that are unexpected. And of course this is a big surprise to me,” King said. Kraft and Belichick vying for immortality in Canton against each other in the same year was made even richer by their complicated, embittered relationship after a remarkable 24 years in New England. The animosity has played out publicly since they parted ways on a Gillette Stadium podium in January 2024, and it has gotten even worse since Belichick took the coaching job at North Carolina, where he finished 4-8 in his inaugural season. Kraft’s Patriots, under first-year head coach Mike Vrabel, will play the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8. For the second year, the finalists in the coaches and contributor categories, Belichick and Kraft, are competing against three senior nominees. Because each voter can select only three finalists, multiple sources among the voters had predicted it was possible — maybe even probable — that Kraft could be elected but not Belichick, or vice versa. As for the three senior nominees: Anderson is a four-time Pro Bowler for the Bengals who won the NFL MVP award in 1981. Craig, who played most of his career for the 49ers, is one of only three NFL players to amass 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season. Greenwood was a member of the Steelers’ vaunted “Steel Curtain” defense that won four Super Bowls in the 1970s. Belichick left New England with records that will be nearly impossible for any current or future coach to match. He won 17 division titles, the most by a head coach in NFL history, and nine conference championships, the most by any coach in the Super Bowl era. He made 12 Super Bowl appearances, including his time as an assistant with the Giants, and his 21 winning seasons as a head coach trails only George Halas (40), Shula (33), Curly Lambeau (33) and Tom Landry (29). The eight other semifinalists in the coaches category this year were Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seifert and Mike Shanahan. Belichick falling short this year means that three other head coaching favorites will likely need to wait at least a year for their turn: Shanahan, Coughlin and last year’s coaching finalist who fell short, Holmgren. “It pushes all three of these coaches back a year,” King said. “You have to ask yourself: What does the coaches committee do next year? Are they going to again advance Belichick? Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if they don’t? … This decision has a major impact beyond just one year.” Mike Sando of The Athletic offers an explanation that is not quite as nefarious as the one being put forward by those saying Bill Polian arranged a black ball of a year because Belichick was a “cheater.: There are times when I feel like quitting the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee over a frustrating result. As time passes, I step back, take a deep breath and realize that deserving candidates get in over time, so we shouldn’t sweat the results in any one year too much. This feels different. The eight-time Super Bowl champ’s reported omission from the 2026 class makes the Hall and our 50-member voting panel look almost as petty and self-absorbed as the baseball voters. The difference is that the Belichick result says as much about the Hall’s new voting process as it says about the voters themselves. To make the Hall more exclusive, its voting rules were changed prior to the 2025 class. These changes would work if voters prioritized the strongest candidates each year. That did not happen last year, in my opinion, and obviously did not happen in Belichick’s case. To understand how this could happen, one first must understand the process. How voting worksThis year, Belichick is competing for one to three spots in the coach/contributor/senior category (which is separate from the 15 modern-era finalists like Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald), alongside four other candidates: Patriots owner Robert KraftFormer 49ers RB Roger CraigFormer Bengals QB Ken AndersonFormer Steelers DE L.C. Greenwood The 50 Hall of Fame voters each choose three of those five candidates. It’s a zero-sum game, with each competing for 150 total votes. The leading vote-getter will always make it in, but two others can earn enshrinement by getting 40-plus of those votes. What might’ve happened here? Hypothetically: * Let’s say four or five voters were strong advocates for specific senior players, figuring Belichick was going to make it regardless. * A few additional voters could’ve also prioritized those players, who might otherwise disappear into the senior pool forever. * A couple more voters might’ve found Belichick’s involvement in Spygate/cheating disqualifying or at least deserving a one-year punishment. * And then one or two voters might’ve protested the new rules (which make coaches eligible one year after retiring instead of five). In that case, Belichick could fall short of the 40-vote threshold for enshrinement, even if every single voter actually thought he was worthy of a gold jacket. Whatever the reasoning, I see this outlier result as a reflection of the new voting rules, not as a reflection of Belichick. Additional changes to the process are surely coming, in my view. Back to you, Jacob. — Indeed, one voter has explained his not voting for Belichick – and it’s along the lines of wanting to get the players in, Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star: It’s hard to imagine a more accomplished candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame than Bill Belichick, who led the New England Patriots to an unprecedented six Super Bowl victories and whose 333 career wins are the second-most in NFL history. His profile is such that you could make his case among Hall of Fame voters simply by saying his name. Certainly, it can reasonably be wondered what the meaning of a Hall of Fame that doesn’t ultimately elect him is. And if the curious selection dynamics now in place allowed for a simple up-down vote on Belichick, as a selector I absolutely would have voted for him this year. I believe he’d have assumed his much-deserved place in Canton in his first year of eligibility in 2026. But, alas, that’s just not how the voting works. And that’s led to understandable puzzlement and furious assumptions in reaction to ESPN’s report Tuesday citing four anonymous sources saying Belichick won’t be part of the Hall of Fame’s class of 2026 when it’s announced next week. That report presumably was news to all 50 PFHOF voters, who in the name of confidentiality weren’t given the final results after any of the voting via the Jan. 13 meeting, including the phase specific to Belichick. Separate from the vote-down of modern era candidates from 15 to as many as five, the aspect involving Belichick illogically lumps together in one category the coaching candidate, the contributor candidate (in this case, Patriots owner Robert Kraft) and three seniors (we’ll come back to those). Voters can choose three of the five at most, and an 80% approval (40 votes) is needed for any to go forward. One simple way to consider this: Under a setup that should be separate and distinct, even Belichick and Kraft essentially are in competition. Many are calling Belichick’s apparent lack of inclusion a sham or a snub, and even the most reasonable of NFL fans — like Patrick Mahomes — are baffled. “Insane …,” the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback posted on X. “Don’t even understand how this could be possible.” ESPN’s piece heavily suggests that Deflategate and Spygate and “politics” led to this situation, and it quotes a veteran Hall voter as saying, “The only explanation (for the outcome) was the cheating stuff. It really bothered some of the guys.” Perhaps that affected some voters, perhaps not. I can’t and won’t try to speak for others, and it’s a condition of being a voter to not divulge the deliberations. But the so-called “cheating stuff” is not at all the only possible explanation. Because it certainly didn’t ultimately influence my vote. In fact, I didn’t vote against Belichick or Kraft. I voted for the three senior candidates: Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood. You could call that rationalizing, I suppose. And I’m suddenly reminded of the fortune cookie wisdom that you should never try to explain, since your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. And no doubt this thinking won’t satisfy those many who feel this was an egregious misjudgment. But here’s how it unfolded for me during a discussion I entered with an open mind for the third spot, while figuring I’d definitely vote for Belichick and Craig, the trailblazing three-time Super Bowl champion who was on the NFL All-Decade team in the 1980s. (When I became a Hall of Fame voter in 2021, I was astonished to realize Craig wasn’t already in.) 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. All three have been long deserving of induction in the Hall. All three have been, well, snubbed for decades. As it came time to cast the vote, I found myself thinking not just of them but of the experiences of recent senior semifinalists and finalists who didn’t make it. Especially several for whom I’ve repeatedly advocated: former Chiefs greats Albert Lewis, who was strongly considered both in his final year of modern eligibility and his first as a senior; Otis Taylor; and Jim Tyrer, whose candidacy resurfaced after being dormant for decades because of increasing awareness of the ravages of CTE and near-certainty he was in its clutches when he murdered his wife and killed himself in 1980. Each case was its own matter, of course. But each of those men, in my opinion, unequivocally belongs in Canton — among dozens of at least semi-similarly decorated players who have been relegated to what PFHOF voters have come to call the “abyss” of senior candidates. Despite 10 senior players (along with three contributors and two coaches) being inducted in 2020 as part of the NFL 100 celebration, the senior backlog remains so overwhelming — including approximately 60 one-time all-decade players — that any chance to climb out is fleeting and fraught. In the last two years, under the new system fused together with the coach and contributor candidates, only three of the six senior nominees have made it through to the Hall. None of the three who were stopped short, including Tyrer, resurfaced on the next year’s ballot. All of that went into why 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. I understand why people are offended that he isn’t going in the first moment he can. In the end, though, I felt more compelled by what I perceive to be last chances and looming lost causes within the system as we have it — a system I hope the Hall will see fit to change now The DB, who is shocked that Anderson has not been enshrined, can certainly understand his logic.- – -Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com wants to figure out how word of Belichick’s snub got out: Lost in the news that the Hall of Fame voters snubbed Bill Belichick is that it shouldn’t have been news. No one is supposed to know who did, and didn’t, make it until the official announcement happens, next Thursday. And so there’s an obvious question to ask. How did it get out? From the perspective of Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, they were absolutely right to report it. Far too much of the journalism in sports amounts to a five-minute, favor-trading head’s up before an official announcement is made. Anyone who works in this space should aspire to find out the things they don’t want us to know, and the Hall of Fame surely didn’t want us to know that Belichick didn’t make it. Belichick, or someone close to him, surely did. Belichick may not have been a source, directly. Supposedly, the candidates sign an NDA. (Then again, what’s the Hall of Fame going to do, sue him?) It’s obvious Belichick disclosed his snub to others, which he technically shouldn’t have done. It’s also obvious that someone to whom he spoke then spoke to ESPN. From the story: “Several sources who spoke with the coach over the weekend described Belichick as ‘puzzled’ and ‘disappointed’ by his inability to secure support from at least 80% of Hall committee members. . . . ‘Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?’ Belichick asked an associate. . . . To another associate, he said, ‘What does a guy have to do?’” With or without Belichick’s fingerprints on the disclosure of something that, from the Hall of Fame’s perspective, shouldn’t have been leaked, the news has sparked a tidal wave of good P.R. for a man who, starting with the on-off Hard Knocks thing from last February, has been dog-paddling in a shark tank. While it likely won’t be enough to get the Raiders or the Cardinals to make him an eleventh-hour candidate for their head-coaching jobs, the complications of the past calendar year have been forgotten, at least for one or two news cycles. The Hall of Fame isn’t happy about the whole thing: The Pro Football Hall of Fame took a multi-level P.R. hit on Tuesday, with the leak that former Browns and Patriots coach Bill Belichick did not qualify for the 2026 enshrinement class and the ensuing firestorm of criticism. On Wednesday, the Hall of Fame hit back, with a vague and non-subtle threat that members of the selection committee could lose their privileges. Here’s the full statement: “The Pro Football Hall of Fame 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. “It’s that very passion that propels the game. The Hall also respects the members of the Selection Committee when they follow the selection process bylaws. It is an honor to serve as a selector. “Each year, the Hall reviews the selection process and the composition of the 50-person Selection Committee. If it is determined that any member(s) violated the selection process bylaws, they understand action will be taken. “That could include the possibility that such selector(s) would not remain a member of the committee moving forward. “The selection of a new class is the most important duty the Hall of Fame oversees each year, and the integrity of that process cannot be in question.” It’s unclear which bylaws may have been violated. Largely because the bylaws aren’t available for public consumption. The entire debate traces to the fact that Belichick spoke to others about the fact that he was excluded from the incoming class. Belichick was supposed to say nothing to anyone, once he was informed that he didn’t make it. Others, apparently voters, thereafter spoke off the record to ESPN.com about the deliberations. And multiple voters have revealed their votes publicly, more than a week before the announcement of the incoming class. Whatever bylaws were or weren’t violated, the Hall of Fame should treat lightly. The 50 voters work for free. They devote many hours and years of accumulated expertise to the process, and they get nothing in return. The voters (at least the ones with, you know, jobs that entail actively covering the NFL on a daily basis) don’t need the hassle. It’s a strange flex for the Hall of Fame to huff and puff about a problem that was created not by the voters, but by a spurned finalist who didn’t honor the commitment to keep his mouth shut. If the Hall of Fame has a problem with what has happened, they should take it up with Bill Belichick. Even after the Belichick fiasco, comes word that sources close to Eli Manning are putting out the word that he will have to wait yet another year – per The Athletic. |
