Bill Belichick appears among the finalists for the 2026 American Football Hall of Fame
The billionaire bought the team in 1994 for $172 million to change its losing image to that of the winningest Super Bowl team in history.
Bill Belichick, coach who led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl victories, appeared this Wednesday among the five finalists seeking induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026.
This list is completed by Robert Kraft, president of the Patriots in the Contributor category and former players Roger Craig, Ken Anderson, and LC Greenwood in the Senior category.
The selection committee, which will meet early next year, will choose a maximum of three of these finalists to be part of the 2026 class.
Belichick, the current head coach of the University of North Carolina college football team, is considered one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.
He won two championship rings as an assistant coach with the New York Giants in the 1980s. As head coach, he led the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances, winning six, with Tom Brady, the quarterback he drafted in 2000.
At the end of his NFL career, he accumulated 333 wins and 178 losses, a record surpassed only by Hall of Famer Don Shula.
Robert Kraft is the other candidate for the Hall of Fame from New England.
The billionaire bought the team in 1994 for $172 million to change its losing image to that of the winningest Super Bowl team in history, with six Lombardi trophies in its trophy case.
He also made the franchise the fourth most valuable in the NFL with a value of $9 billion.
Among the former players, Roger Craig is one of the favorites to have his bronze bust in the Hall of Fame located in Canton, Ohio.
Craig won Super Bowls XIX, XXIII, and XXIV with the San Francisco 49ers.
In his career he has accumulated 13,100 yards and 73 touchdowns. Ken Anderson and LC Greenwood complete the list of candidates. Anderson played for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1971 to 1986, accumulating 32,833 yards and 197 touchdown passes.
Greenwood was a defensive end who won Super Bowls IX, X, XIII, and XIV with the Steelers between 1969 and 1981.
The names of the new Hall of Fame inductees will be announced at the NFL Honors ceremony at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California, in the days leading up to Super Bowl LX on February 8.