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Whether you like it or not, and whether the reasoning was valid or not, Bill Belichick will not be a member of the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.
Belichick’s exclusion, which nobody seems to be able to explain, is widely considered the greatest snub in the history of the Hall of Fame, which dates all the way back to 1963.
But Belichick, who has a record six Super Bowl victories to his name as a head coach, is hardly the first person to be snubbed from Canton, nor will he be the last. It also sounds as if it’s nearly a sure thing that he’ll be enshrined in 2027.
However, his situation made us think, who are the biggest Pro Football Hall of Fame snubs still out there? For the sake the exercise, we stuck to players. But these are the 11 names we came up with.
11) Eli Manning
You don’t have to like it. But the reality is Eli Manning belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He led the New York Giants to two extremely improbable Super Bowl runs, and while you may say that the Giants defense did a lot of the heavy lifting, Manning was the MVP of both Super Bowls he played in.
He is just one of six multi-time Super Bowl MVPs. Three others: Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, and Joe Montana, are all in the Hall of Fame already. Both Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes are locks to go in as soon as they’re eligible.
Manning has to go in.
Now, this was only his second year of eligibility. So it’s fine that he’s not going in right away. But if you keep him out, you’re simply not painting an accurate picture of football history.
10) Jim Plunkett
Jim Plunkett had one of the most polarizing careers in NFL history.
He began it as the No. 1 overall pick of the 1971 NFL Draft to the New England Patriots. But Plunkett never found his way in New England and was later traded to the San Francisco 49ers, where he started for two years before being released.
The then-Oakland Raiders signed Plunkett as a backup in 1978, but in 1980, at the age of 32, he got a second chance when starter Dan Pastorini got hurt, and Plunkett never looked back.
He went 9-2 after taking over the starting job, earning a Wild Card spot and then leading Oakland to a victory in Super Bowl XV with an MVP performance. He later led the Raiders to a victory in Super Bowl XVIII as well, and has the honor of being the first minority to quarterback a team to a Super Bowl victory and the only Latino to be named Super Bowl MVP.
9) Phil Simms
Why not get back to the theme of New York Giants quarterbacks who won Super Bowl MVPs and don’t get enough credit?
Simms is a two-time Super Bowl champion as the starter for the New York Giants and put up one of the best performances in Super Bowl history in 1987 against the Denver Broncos when he completed a record 88 percent of his passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns, for a 150.9 passer rating, another record that still stands today.
He’s also a two-time Pro Bowler and a Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner.
8) Joe Jacoby
You know your offensive line is dominant when it gets a nickname that everyone remembers decades later.
The Washington Commanders’ “Hogs” were the key to three Super Bowl victories, and offensive tackle Joe Jacoby was right at the heart of it.
Jacoby is a three-time first-team All-Pro, a four-time Pro Bowler, and helped pave the way for John Riggins to rush for a then Super Bowl record 166 yards in Washington’s win over Miami in Super Bowl XVII. Jacoby is also a member of the NFL’s All-1980s Team.
7) Roger Craig
Roger Craig’s greatness often gets overshadowed by the fact that he played alongside legends like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, who were two of the all-time greats at their positions.
But during the 1980s, Craig was one of the most dynamic offensive players in the entire NFL.
He’s a four-time Pro Bowler, the 1988 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and, like Jacoby, is a member of the NFL’s All-1980s Team.
Additionally, Craig became the first player in league history to have 1,000 rushing and receiving yards in the same season in 1985. He won three Super Bowls with the 49ers and became the first player to score three touchdowns in a Super Bowl during the 49ers’ win over the Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX.
6) Clay Matthews Jr.
While the Cleveland Browns may be a bit of a laughingstock these days, that wasn’t always the case.
From 1986-1989, Cleveland appears in three AFC Championship Games led by an elite defense. At the heart of that defense was Clay Matthews Sr., who led the NFL in tackles on four different occasions, including a 1984 season with 126 tackles while also posting 12 sacks and three forced fumbles, which somehow was only good enough for second-team All-Pro and didn’t net Matthews one of his four Pro Bowl appearances.
Matthews helped the Browns to five AFC Central division championships and played 19 NFL seasons, recording 1,5959 tackles, 69.5 career sacks, 27 forced fumbles, and 14 fumble recoveries along the way.
5) Torry Holt
Kurt Warner is in the Hall of Fame. Marshall Faulk is in the Hall of Fame. And Isaac Bruce went into the hall in 2020. So why not complete the key members of the “Greatest Show on Turf.”
Holt was the No. 6 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft and immediately proved the St. Louis Rams correct in their evaluation.
He caught 52 passes for 788 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie as the Rams went on to win the Super Bowl. And it only got better from there.
The North Carolina State product made seven Pro Bowls and was a member of the NFL’s All-2000s team. He led the league in receiving yards in both 2000 and 2003 and was a dominant force for the better part of a decade.
4) L.C. Greenwood
L.C. Greenwood not being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is nothing short of a travesty.
One of the key members of Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain defense in the 1970s, Greenwood is a four-time Super Bowl champion, six-time Pro Bowler, and two-time first-team All-Pro.
The 6-foot-6 defensive end, who tragically passed away in 2013 at just 67, still holds the record for most sacks in a Super Bowl after getting to Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach four times in Super Bowl X.
3) Ken Anderson
A former league MVP, Anderson’s omission from the Hall of Fame is every bit as egregious as Greenwood’s.
The Cincinnati Bengals’ all-time leading passer made four Pro Bowls, led the league in passer rating four times, led the league in completion percentage three times, and led the league in passing yards twice.
Anderson also led the Bengals to their first-ever Super Bowl appearance in 1982, where they fell to Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers, 26-21.
Had Cincinnati won that game, it’s hard to imagine Anderson wouldn’t be in by now.
2) Lester Hayes
You’re telling me a man with five Pro Bowl appearances, four first-team All-Pro selections, two Super Bowl rings, and the modern era record for interceptions in a season with 13, isn’t a sure-fire Hall of Famer?
I’m calling bull…
Lester Hayes is one of the best ball-hawking cornerbacks in league history and was one of the stars of the Raiders’ defense throughout the 1980s. He was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1980 and made the 1980s All-Decade team.
To keep him out of the Hall of Fame would be to tell an incomplete and incorrect history of the league.
1) Reggie Wayne
Much like Torry Holt, it’s a bit ridiculous that Reggie Wayne, who is a finalist for this year’s class, is not already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, and Edgerrin James have all been inducted already; now it’s Wayne’s turn.
The former Indianapolis Colts star, who is now the team’s wide receivers coach, was depending as any receiving in the league in the 2000s.
Wayne is a six-time Pro Bowler, including five-straight years from 2006-10. He led the NFL in receiving yards in 2007 and was Indy’s No. 1 receiving option in 2009 when it reached the Super Bowl before falling to the New Orleans Saints.
He ranks 10th all-time in receiving yards and 11th all-time in receptions. Wayne should’ve been in years ago, and each passing year he becomes an even bigger snub.