Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s exclusion from the NFL Hall of Fame 2026 class has become a topic of discussion among former players and coaches.
Former Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss weighed in on Belichick and Kraft not making the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Moss said the voting process should only involve people from football.
“If you didn’t play it, if you didn’t coach it, you shouldn’t have a vote,” Moss said.
Former Patriots quarterback Cam Newton discussed the Pro Football Hall of Famer’s comments on his “4th&1 With Cam Newton” podcast.
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“That ain’t right,” Newton said (Timestamp 1:05:00 onwards). “Because flip side, when we suffer a defeat, we have to talk to you… Bring all selection committees. Don’t matter if it’s the college football, committee. Doesn’t matter if the Hall of Fame committee, doesn’t matter if the All-American committee bring them all to the forefront.
“We live in a world of content. Somebody buy that right to showcase how they do it with juries… It was an ultimate sign of disgrace to not have those specific guys. I don’t care what Deflategate was. I don’t care if you think they cheated.”
Cam Newton’s former Panthers teammate makes Hall of Fame case for ex-MVP
Cam Newton is one of the first-time eligibles on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot. Former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, running back Adrian Peterson and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Former Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, made a case for Newton.
“That’s what everybody needs to really think about (with) the Hall of Fame, Kuechly said. “And the dominance (with) which he played the game is what I think needs to be talked about the most. He was just so much better than everybody else on the field. There wasn’t much he couldn’t do.”
Edited by Chaitanya Prakash