FILE - New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick holds up the Vince Lombardi Trophy as he celebrates the Patriots' victory over the Seattle Seahawks in NFL Super Bowl XLIX football game Feb. 1, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame will consider making changes to the voting panel and process of choosing Hall of Famers following a year when Bill Belichick’s omission from the 2026 class generated outrage.
Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in an interview Thursday night after the five-player class was announced that there are several possible tweaks that could be made, adding that those changes aren’t specific to Belichick’s perceived snub.
But Porter seemed less inclined to alter a recent rule change that grouped coaches and contributors with old-time players that played a role in Belichick missing out despite winning a record six Super Bowls as a head coach.
Porter said that the Hall plans to return to in-person voting and discussion for the 50-member committee after moving to a virtual meeting room following the COVID pandemic. He also said the vote will likely happen closer to the annual reveal at NFL Honors to reduce the chances of leaks and said the Hall would consider releasing vote totals and individual ballots in the future but won’t do it for this year’s class.
Porter said the Hall will also look at replacing any voters who might have violated the rules either by publicly discussing the off-record debate about the candidates or by not voting for the “most deserving” candidates in each category.
“I’m not here to tell them who the most deserving is,” Porter said. “If the Hall was to tell who the most deserving is, we wouldn’t need them to vote. We understand that. We just want the rules followed.”
Voter Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star wrote a column explaining his reasoning for choosing seniors players Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood instead of Belichick even though he believed Belichick shouldn’t have had to wait for induction.
“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,” Gregorian wrote.
But Porter said picking seniors players over a coach because the players might not be guaranteed another chance as a finalist was not allowed.
“That’s not an option,” Porter said. “You have to pick the most deserving. Those are the instructions that were read four times.”
Some voters have expressed frustration over rule changes put in place last year that have grouped players in the seniors category who have been retired for at least 25 years, along with coaches and contributors. The new rules also made it harder for anyone to reach the 80% threshold.
In this year’s vote, Belichick and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft were grouped with the three seniors players. Instead of an up-or-down vote on each candidate, voters got to choose three of the five with the leading vote-getter and anyone else above 80% getting into the Hall. Craig was the only one of the five to get in this year after Sterling Sharpe was the lone one last year with coach Mike Holmgren not getting enough support.
This is the third straight year no coach got the honor, leading to calls from some people — including voters — to separate coaches and contributors from the seniors.
Porter didn’t seem inclined to change that process, saying that for more than 50 years coaches and contributors were grouped with players before changes about 10 years ago.
“The question is, what changed?” Porter asked. “What was it that the selectors could do that for the 50-some years but now can’t. They could get the right person in that didn’t require a category. I don’t know. We’ll find it out. We’ll talk to a lot of people. .. But there’s a responsibility there. The responsibility is to pick the most deserving. They got down to where that number was. So my question is, is everybody picking the most deserving.”
This was also the second straight year with fewer than five modern-era candidates getting in after a rule change. Instead of an up-or-down vote on five players, seven made it to the final stage with voters allowed to pick five. The top three and anyone else above 80% gets into the Hall.
Last year, only three players reached that threshold and there were four this year: Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri. Willie Anderson, Terrell Suggs and Marshal Yanda fell short and will automatically be in the final 15 next year.
After 12 straight years of at least seven people getting inducted, there have been only four and five the past two years.
“The number got really high,” Porter said.
Porter said he hopes shortening the time between the vote and announcement — it was more than three weeks this year — will reduce leaks but he still wants enough time for the tradition of Hall of Famers delivering the news in person to the new class in what is known as “The Knock.”
He is open to changes overall but doesn’t see the need for an overhaul of the process.
“We’ll do some tweaks and we’ll take a look,” he said. “We’re going to do what’s best for the Hall of Fame. My job is to protect the integrity of the Hall, protect the integrity of the process.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Pro Football Writer