Skip Bayless: Bill Belichick doesn’t deserve to be first-ballot Hall of Famer

Amid the loud majority of sports media members lambasting the Pro Football Hall of Fame for snubbing Bill Belichick, there is Skip Bayless defending the decision.

Belichick is the most accomplished head coach in NFL history. Six Super Bowls as a head coach, two as a defensive coordinator, the second-most regular season wins of all-time and the most playoff wins. But after Belichick failed to receive 40 of 50 votes needed for induction, first-ballot Hall of Famer will never be on his resume.

If you had to guess one person in sports media who would be eager to defend Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame snub, the answer has to be Skip Bayless. For more than a decade, Bayless has attempted to downplay Belichick’s value to the New England Patriots dynasty, claiming most of the credit belongs to Tom Brady. And now it appears there are at least 11 Hall of Fame voters who agree with Bayless.

Does Bill Belichick eventually deserve to go in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Well, obviously he does. But am I surprised that voters punished him by making him wait one year? Not at all. pic.twitter.com/VUUpVrELaF

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) January 28, 2026

“Does Bill Belichick eventually deserve to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?” Bayless asked. “Well, obviously he does. But am I surprised that voters punished him by making him wait one year? Not at all. Bill Belichick did not deserve to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot.”

“This is so much deeper than just the six Super Bowls on the surface. Obviously, the main reason that Bill Belichick was punished was Spygate,” Bayless continued. “I first guessed all this going back at least 10 years ago when I started to say that Tom Brady was 75 percent of the Patriots dynasty and I gave Belichick 25 percent. But you have to credit Brady with at least 75 percent because if you start to look hard at Belichick without Brady, this mattered to these voters!”

Brady won the divorce. Belichick left the Patriots in shambles and couldn’t get another NFL job, opting to take the head coaching gig at North Carolina which has been defined by more controversy than success. Yes, Belichick had a bad record without Tom Brady, yes, he was caught in Spygate and yes, he was often a jerk to the media. Does that mean the most accomplished head coach in NFL history isn’t a Hall of Famer?

It’s a weird wrinkle that coaches only have to be out of the league one year to be deemed eligible for the Hall of Fame while players still have to wait five years. Especially because Belichick didn’t retire from the NFL, he was fired and couldn’t get another job. Maybe people didn’t want to hear him deliver a Hall of Fame speech when his NFL stock is at its lowest. But six Super Bowls should be all the defense Belichick needs. And if Belichick is eligible for the Hall of Fame, he deserves to be in.

“Finally, after all these years, Bill Belichick is being turned into something that he always wanted to be, which was a lovable sympathetic figure,” Bayless continued. “Now everybody’s lashing out at the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters in support of poor Bill Belichick, who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Yes, he does, just not on the first ballot.”

If we can all agree Belichick deserves to be a Hall of Famer, then we should all agree that he deserved to be voted in. It’s silly to argue otherwise. But after he planted his flag as a Belichick detractor long ago, Bayless has been waiting for this day to say ‘told ya so’ for years.