The shock around Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft being left off the first Hall of Fame ballot hadn’t even settled when Rob Gronkowski pushed the outrage in a new direction. What had been a debate about voters and standards suddenly found a new target, as Gronk stopped dancing around the snub and aimed his reaction squarely at Andy Reid.

“Coach Belichick needs to be in the Hall of Fame, and it needs to be a first ballot,” Gronkowski told Front Office Sports. “Now there’s no such thing as a first-ballot Hall of Fame coach. No other coach ever in history should go first-ballot. There’s a guy out there, Andy Reid, but he can’t go first-ballot now because coach Belichick wasn’t first-ballot.”

Gronk’s frustration is understandable. Watching Belichick and Kraft miss out on the first ballot came as a shock to him and probably ignited some anger. Regardless, bringing in Andy Reid is an entirely different conversation.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, and Andy Reid welcoming the same fate as Belichick wouldn’t make things any better.

Andy Reid deserves to be a HOFer. He’s the only head coach to become the winningest coach for two different franchises, a 3x Super Bowl winner, and will be entering his 28th season as an HC next year. And if you include his years as an assistant, he has led his teams to the playoffs 26 times. With him at the helm, the Chiefs have made it to the playoffs 11 times in 13 seasons.

That level of consistency is usually enough for a head coach to be inducted into the Canton. Most of the time, on the first try itself. Bill Belichick also fits into that very category, which only adds to Gronk’s frustration. But maybe the solution isn’t letting one controversial decision snowball into another, but not making the same mistake twice.

What makes Belichick’s exclusion sting even more is that first-ballot coaching inductions have always been rare, but not reserved only for untouchable legends. Don Shula, Chuck Noll, and Tom Landry remain the only three head coaches to ever walk into Canton on their first try, yet some of the most influential figures in NFL history weren’t granted that immediate honor. Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown, Bill Walsh, and Jimmy Johnson, all dynasty builders, were forced to wait despite reshaping the sport.

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Even Super Bowl-winning coaches like Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells, John Madden, Hank Stram, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, and Tom Flores didn’t receive first-ballot nods, while several championship coaches such as Mike Shanahan, Tom Coughlin, and Mike Holmgren still haven’t been inducted at all, a history that further shows how unpredictable and political Hall of Fame voting can be.

If a coach with six Vince Lombardi trophies, nine conference titles, and decades of dominance cannot rack up 40 votes, nothing feels guaranteed anymore. And if you’re already thinking about Tom Brady receiving his gold jacket in a few years, don’t be too sure. Gronk surely isn’t.

Will Tom Brady be a first-ballot HOFer?

A week ago, the thought of Tom Brady not being a first-ballot Hall of Famer almost felt like a joke. Now, after the snubs of Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft, it doesn’t feel like a distant reality anymore. Somehow, even arguably the greatest quarterback of all time might not be a first ballot. Gronk couldn’t help but laugh at the possibility.

“Tom Brady’s going to be a fourth-ballot Hall of Famer now,” he said on the Up & Adams show. “Like, [Kraft] can’t get in, Bill Belichick can’t get in, where’s Tom gonna sit? I mean, obviously, Tom’s got to be a first-ballot, but who knows what’s going to happen now?”

Brady’s resume deserves to be in Canton on the first try. He’s the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, quarterback wins, and Super Bowl victories. But again, a lot of his success should also be credited to Belichick and Kraft. Former wide receiver Terrell Owens echoed the same sentiment.

“Honestly, if you’re looking at it, if Belichick doesn’t go in and Robert Kraft doesn’t go in first ballot, Tom Brady shouldn’t go in,” Owens said. “I’m just being real. It’s nothing against him. How can you have Tom Brady go in when he’s up in 2028? Why would he go in if Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick don’t go in on the first go-around?”

“Because to be quite honest, yeah, is Tom Brady a good quarterback? Yeah. He’s not the quarterback he is without Robert Kraft drafting him. He’s not the quarterback he is without Bill Belichick. They all go hand-in-hand. So to me, why would he go in and those two not? He shouldn’t go in either.”

Behind the scenes, Belichick’s candidacy was also reportedly weighed against the shadow of Spygate and Deflategate, controversies that followed the Patriots dynasty and were mentioned during deliberations, a factor some believe quietly influenced voters despite his unmatched on-field résumé.

Kraft’s omission sparked its own backlash, especially given his influence far beyond New England, including his role in securing massive NFL television rights deals that reshaped league revenue and visibility, contributions many around the league view as Hall of Fame–worthy on their own.

Well, he’s up in 2028, so we can just hope that the voting processes change by then. The outrage about the snubs isn’t slowing down, so there might be a change coming soon. At least, that’s what the fans can hope for.