Hall of Fame voter explains why Bill Belichick snub is result of new voting rules

Hall of Fame voter explains Bill Belichick’s snub

NFL Hall of Fame voter Mike Mando expressed his concerns about the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting process after reports surfaced that Bill Belichick may have fallen short of first-ballot induction.

“I’m a HOF voter who saw Belichick as a slam-dunk,” Sando wrote on social media. “I don’t know anything about voting results, but if this is true, and we’ll find out officially next week, the question is, how could this happen?”

He emphasized that any potential outcome would stem from the structure of the 2025 voting rules rather than a reassessment of Belichick’s credentials in the NFL. Under the revised process, Belichick is grouped with Robert Kraft, Roger Craig, Sterling Sharpe, and Ken Anderson on the coach/contributor ballot, which is separate from the 15 modern-era finalists. Voters are asked to select three of the five candidates, with only one to three eligible for induction.

There are 50 voters, meaning a total of 250 votes are distributed across the five candidates. To be elected, a candidate must receive at least 40 votes unless they finish as the top vote-getter.

Sando described the format as a “zero-sum game,” noting that the changes implemented for the 2025 class significantly raised the threshold for election.

I’m a HOF voter who saw Belichick as slam-dunk. I don’t know anything about voting results, but if this is true, and we’ll find out officially next week, the question is, how could this happen?

Before I list possibilities, understand this:

Belichick, Kraft, Craig, Anderson &… https://t.co/V8okBDsReH

— Mike Sando (@SandoNFL) January 27, 2026

He presented several scenarios in which Belichick might not achieve the necessary votes for induction, even if more than 40 voters consider him deserving. Some voters may have assumed that Belichick’s induction was a certainty and instead chose to support senior candidates who needed votes. Others might have prioritized candidates they believed could become less visible in the senior pool, reasoning that Belichick would have the opportunity to return to the ballot in future years.

Sando also cited the possibility that a small number of voters viewed controversies such as Spygate as disqualifying, or that they objected to the rule change that made coaches eligible one year after retirement rather than the previous five-year waiting period.

“Whatever the case,” Sando wrote, “I would see this as a repudiation of the new voting rules implemented for 2025, not of Belichick or any candidate not making it.”

Sando added that he expects the process to change moving forward.

“There will be changes to the process, I predict,” he wrote on X.