Despite success of New England Patriots’ dynasty, Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick will have to wait for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Patriots’ unexpected Super Bowl run this season ends the longest drought between Super Bowl appearances with Robert Kraft as owner.
Head coach Mike Vrabel has established Patriot Way 2.0, helped by the emergence of second-year QB Drake Maye.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — All of a sudden, amid the countdown to Super Bowl 60, the New England Patriots had another Hall of Fame snub in the wind during the Tuesday media session at the team’s hotel.
This time, it’s Robert Kraft, the venerable Patriots owner and significant NFL power broker, passed over as a finalist in the contributor category – days after news leaked that legendary coach Bill Belichick won’t be a member, either, for the Class of 2026.
Word of Kraft’s fate emerged with an ESPN.com report that broke Tuesday, shortly before Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and several players held media availability.
“It’s kind of a shocking, to be honest,” linebacker Christian Elliss told reporters gathered at his podium.
“Unfortunate,” Vrabel said, responding to the first question at his press conference.
As was the case with Belichick, it’s rather bizarre that for all the success achieved by the Patriots dynasty, the two chief architects will have to wait to get busts in Canton.
I’m taken aback, too, as a member of the Hall’s 50-member selection committee. The panel didn’t know the results of our voting when we finished our annual meeting in January — the class will be officially revealed during the NFL Honors show on Thursday night — but I didn’t see this one coming, either.
“All of the Hall of Fame stuff kind of blows my mind,” Elliss said. “Robert Kraft is a special owner, obviously, when you win as much as this organization has. If he doesn’t deserve it, then who does? He’s been an amazing owner this year, and hopefully we can get a trophy for him.”
The Patriots presence in Super Bowl 60 is just one more reminder of the merits behind a long-overdue ticket to Canton for the 84-year-old Kraft — especially when compared to other owners inducted into the Hall. When it faces the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, New England can potentially claim the franchise’s seventh Lombardi Trophy. Under Kraft (and Belichick, and with Tom Brady), the Patriots won a record-tying six Super Bowls, matching the Pittsburgh Steelers’ total.
Furthermore, no NFL owner in history has led a franchise to 11 Super Bowl appearances and won 20 division titles. In the 33 years before Kraft bought the Patriots in 1994, the franchise won four playoff games and hosted all of one home playoff game.
Yet this unexpected run to the Super Bowl — the six-year drought between Super Bowl appearances is the longest during Kraft’s ownership tenure — comes in a different context.
Hey, this time the Patriots are in the Super Bowl with some appeal as an underdog. As the dynasty era rolled on, with Spygate and Deflategate controversies in the mix, the Patriots became undeniable arch-villains to much of America. Now, Hall of Fame snubs or not, there’s not so much to hate.
“I would say the majority of Americans, or a majority of people, probably are more underdogs than they are favorites,” Vrabel said of the shift in perception. “Favorites are the talented, elite, top 10%. Most groups are made out of a lot of people that are average and 80%, and we’re trying to make the 80% a little bit better.”
Talk about having their own identity.
“Identity has been our word since April,” receiver Kayshon Boutte said, alluding to the start of the offseason program under Vrabel. “We’ve been rolling with it ever since.”
Vrabel was lured back after the Patriots endured back-to-back 4-13 finishes, including Belichick’s final season in 2023, and Kraft fired coach Jerod Mayo in January 2025 after just one season.
And look at them now. It’s like Patriot Way 2.0. Vrabel has re-established a winning culture and demonstrated that such a remarkable turnaround is indeed possible in the parity-influenced NFL. It helps to have an impressive young quarterback in second-year pro Drake Maye, tutored by returning offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, but this quick rise goes deeper than that and undoubtedly started at the top when Kraft cut the cord with Mayo — the former Patriots linebacker who was promoted as his hand-picked, coach-in-waiting from Belichick’s staff — and brought back Vrabel.
“It was difficult to have to let Jerod go and bring in Vrabel,” Richard Seymour, the Hall of Fame defensive lineman who won three Super Bowl rings during his eight seasons with the Patriots, told USA TODAY Sports. “I don’t think a lot of people would have done that. But leadership starts at the top.”
Seymour added that Kraft and his son, Jonathan, the team’s president, deserve “a ton of credit for being visionaries of what the culture should be. They’re smart in that way, in terms of doing what’s best for the team and not just any one individual. And the culture is about winning and doing things the right way.”
Of course, Kraft’s Hall of Fame case is bolstered by his impact on the NFL’s business, including the pivotal role he played in helping to end the league’s lockout of players in 2011 and striking a new labor deal. And as chairman of the NFL’s media committee, he’s been an impetus for growing enormous revenues with multiple record-breaking media rights deals for the league.
No, those two Patriots scandals — Spygate and Deflategate — shouldn’t be the reason for Kraft’s lengthy wait for a Hall call. The Deflategate saga was largely Brady’s issue — the star quarterback was suspended for four games in 2015, while the team paid a $1 million fine and lost first- and fourth-round picks — related to alleged doctoring of footballs. The Spygate controversy in 2007 was on Belichick, who authorized the secret videotaping of New York Jets sideline hand signals. Belichick was fined $500,000, the team was fined $250,000 and was docked a first-round draft pick.
In the book, ‘Brady vs, Belichick: The Dynasty Debate,’ published in 2025 (St. Martin’s Press), author Gary Myers described an exchange between the owner and coach, that attempted to get to the bottom of Spygate.
According to Kraft, he asked Belichick: “How much did this help us on a scale of 1 to 100?”
Belichick: “One.”
Kraft: “Then you’re a real schmuck.”
That assessment hardly sounds like a disqualifying factor for Kraft.
Then there was the arrest at a Florida day spa in 2019, where, as part of a sting operation, Kraft was accused of soliciting sex. Charges were ultimately dropped, and Kraft was never disciplined by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell under the league’s personal conduct policy.
Has that weighed on Kraft’s candidacy? Given the ultimate legal outcome, it shouldn’t, at this point. None of the Hall voters have publicly stated that as a factor.
Still, the questions linger on … big game looming or not.
“I would say that in my experiences with Robert, he’s more than deserving and he’ll be in the Hall of Fame,” Vrabel said. “I’m not in charge of deciding when that happens. So, I appreciate the relationship that I’ve had with him and the success as a player, and now as a coach.”
Of course, you’d expect nothing less than the full support of Vrabel, who also won three Super Bowl rings in eight seasons as a Patriots linebacker. Naturally, he vouched for the support that Kraft — who presented Vrabel with a game ball during an emotional postgame celebration after the AFC championship game victory at Denver — provided the staff and team this season.
Added Vrabel: “I’m glad that he’s back here and continuing to help us do things that will help the team win and ultimately allow him to be recognized.”
It shouldn’t take another Super Bowl victory to ensure Kraft’s Hall of Fame status. He’s already done more than enough to earn the honor. Yet, as it stands now, it can only add to his case.
Kraft, uncharacteristically, hasn’t accommodated interview requests from USA TODAY Sports. And he hasn’t conducted his typical Super Bowl sessions this week for large numbers of media.
During an appearance on CNBC on Tuesday, after news broke of the Hall of Fame snub. Kraft maintained, “What matters to me is we win Sunday.”
At least one prize is still in play this week.