{"id":119643,"date":"2026-02-03T18:05:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/stephen-a-smith-warns-hall-of-fame-if-tom-brady-is-denied-first-ballot-burn-down-the-building-119643"},"modified":"2026-02-03T18:05:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:05:37","slug":"stephen-a-smith-warns-hall-of-fame-if-tom-brady-is-denied-first-ballot-burn-down-the-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/stephen-a-smith-warns-hall-of-fame-if-tom-brady-is-denied-first-ballot-burn-down-the-building-119643","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A Smith warns Hall of Fame if Tom Brady is denied first-ballot: \u2018Burn down the building\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

With Bill Belichick<\/a> and Robert Kraft both missing out on being first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famers, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith got to thinking \u2014 what happens when Tom Brady can be voted on?<\/p>\n

The legendary quarterback, who spent two decades leading a dynasty with the New England Patriots<\/a>, has all-time NFL records and seven Super Bowl rings to boot. If there’s anyone fit to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, it’s Brady.<\/p>\n

But that was until Belichick, his head coach in New England, shockingly missed out on his trip to Canton on his first ballot. Waves of displeasure with the Hall of Fame came crashing down, and the conversation rose during Super Bowl week, where the Patriots find themselves back in the big game, as Kraft didn’t earn enough votes either.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Smith went on ESPN’s “First Take” to pose a question to his fellow panelists.<\/p>\n

“What you going to do next? You\u2019re going to deny Tom Brady<\/a>? You\u2019re going to deny Tom Brady? You\u2019re going to look at Tom Brady and be like this, \u2018You don\u2019t go to the Hall of Fame?'” Smith said to the group.<\/p>\n

“You might as well burn down the building if that happens \u2014 there is no Hall of Fame. If you can\u2019t have Tom Brady up in there as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, the credibility of the institution that is the Hall of Fame goes right out the freaking window. It\u2019s over. We understand that, right?”<\/p>\n

PATRIOTS’ ROBERT KRAFT MISSES OUT ON PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME: REPORTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Smith also spoke about Kraft missing out, as he was also part of the now infamous five-man group that included senior candidates \u2014 L.C. Greenwood, Roger Craig and Ken Anderson \u2014 and Belichick. Voters were only allowed to elect three of the candidates for the Hall this year, leading some voters to choose the seniors due to their potential final chance to reach Canton.<\/p>\n

“I wasn\u2019t surprised, I was appalled,” Smith said about the Kraft news that came out on Tuesday. “Obviously, he deserves to be a Hall of Famer. He\u2019s been the owner for 32 years. In 32 years, he has 13 more regular-season games, 13 more postseason games than any other NFL team for carrying out loud. This is a man who\u2019s won 20 division titles in 32 seasons. This is a man, that in his 32-year reign as the owner, they\u2019ve been to the Super Bowl with three different head coach-quarterback combinations. Bill Parcells and Drew Bledsoe, Belichick with Brady, and now [Mike] Vrabel with Drake Maye. This is the man that has been at the helm.<\/p>\n

“We all know it\u2019s egregious, we all know it\u2019s absolutely disgusting. The Hall of Fame should be the ‘Hall of Shame.’ They\u2019ve minimized and diluted their own product, and they don\u2019t even know how badly they\u2019ve done it as of yet.”<\/p>\n

Smith doesn’t want the “trend” to continue with Brady, but he is linked to those Patriots years when scandals like Spygate and Deflategate, which reportedly worked their way into the voting debate for Belichick, and perhaps Kraft as well.<\/p>\n

“Let\u2019s take Spygate, let\u2019s take Deflategate, let\u2019s take all of that. What coach would say Bill Belichick doesn\u2019t deserve to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer? No one. What owner would say Robert Kraft doesn\u2019t deserve to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer? No one,” Smith added.<\/p>\n

“You couldn\u2019t find a player in Pop Warner that would tell you Tom Brady doesn\u2019t deserve to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, let alone high school, college, pro. There is no athlete in any sport on the planet, in America or the world over, that would tell you Tom Brady ain\u2019t a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”<\/p>\n

Modern-era candidates are eligible for the Hall of Fame five years after retirement, which means Brady won’t be able to get elected into Canton until 2028. However, that’s still a pretty close time frame.<\/p>\n

Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0sports coverage on X<\/strong><\/i><\/a>\u00a0and subscribe to<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/strong><\/i><\/a>.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/stephen-smith-warns-hall-fame-tom-brady-denied-first-ballot-burn-down-building <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft both missing out on being first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famers, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith got to thinking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-119643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStephen A Smith warns Hall of Fame if Tom Brady is denied first-ballot: \u2018Burn down the building\u2019 - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/stephen-a-smith-warns-hall-of-fame-if-tom-brady-is-denied-first-ballot-burn-down-the-building-119643\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stephen A Smith warns Hall of Fame if Tom Brady is denied first-ballot: \u2018Burn down the building\u2019 - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft both missing out on being first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famers, ESPN personality Stephen A. 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