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Perhaps unfairly, Bill Belichick needs to wait his turn to enter Canton.
Despite eight Super Bowl victories and the second-most wins in NFL history, Belichick fell short of the 80% of the votes (40 out of 50) needed to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.
Dick Vermeil was inducted into the Hall in 2022 with seven fewer rings and 213 fewer wins. So Vermeil knows where the line to get in might be.
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Dick Vermeil performs during the 2022 Pro Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on August 6, 2022 in Canton, Ohio. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
“If anyone belongs in the Hall of Fame, regardless of voting, it’s Bill Belichick. Honestly, I feel guilty being there without him…” Vermeil told TMZ Sports. “When you leave out Bill Belichick, the system doesn’t work and there’s no way to justify it as it is.”
It has been reported and speculated that Spygate and Deflategate were points of contention that led to a lack of outright support for Belichick, leading some to convince other voters that Belichick should be punished by waiting a year to join. The 2007 spy scandal cost the team a first-round pick and $250,000, while Belichick was fined $500,000. Deflategate resulted in a four-game suspension for Tom Brady and $1 million in fines and eventually landed in the United States courts.
However, Vermeil said keeping him out because of those scandals is “nonsense.”
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick looks on during the fourth quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium. (David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports)
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“I’ve been in the league since 1969 and I’ve seen a lot of things done that weren’t technically legal or ethical and that no one knew about, things equivalent to any of these charges. It’s almost a joke,” Vermeil added. “Training against Bill was stressful. I knew I was going to be outplayed and I needed help from everyone else. It’s scary to think that the people who voted not to let him in might, in a few years, have the same reservations about Tom Brady not getting in on the first ballot.”
The final list of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees will be released before Super Bowl LX. Belichick was among the candidates in a separate group in the modern era players category, along with Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, LC Greenwood and Robert Kraft.
Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star wrote a Wednesday column revealing that he was one of at least 11 Hall of Fame voters who did not vote for Belichick. Gregorian, who has been covering the league for nearly 40 years, said controversies were not the reason he rejected the coach.
Gregorian said he felt “compelled” to cast his vote for Anderson, Craig and Greenwood, believing they were possibly looking at their last chances to get into the Hall. Each voter on the Selection Committee can vote for up to three candidates, outside of the modern era player selections.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick spins his whistle during an NFL football practice, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Six of Belichick’s titles came as head coach of the New England Patriotsand the other two came as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.
Belichick, currently the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels, was 302-165 in his career as a head coach with the Patriots and Cleveland Browns. He and the Patriots mutually parted ways after the 2023 campaign after 24 seasons.
