Sean Payton is happy and unsurprised to see Bill Belichick move forward as a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2026 class in the coaching category.
He’s just not entirely sold on the notion that Belichick is done coaching in the NFL.
“I’ll be honest with you, I miss him not being in the league,” Payton said Wednesday, the same day Belichick moved to the Hall’s doorstep. “I miss him not being in the league and I wouldn’t be surprised — and I would be somewhat hopeful that he ends up back in the league. We’d all be better for it. He’s somethin’.”
Belichick, of course, is a six-time Super Bowl champion in New England and just finished his first season as the head coach at the University of North Carolina.
Belichick got the nod over former Broncos coaches Mike Shanahan and Dan Reeves, former Seattle and Green Bay head coach Mike Holmgren and several others.
“I didn’t realize that coaches didn’t have to wait five years,” Payton said. “There’s a few planes right out here on the runway. One of them is Belichick, the other one’s Shanahan. There’s Holmgren. And it’s just a matter of when they take off.”
Shanahan has made it deep into the process each of the past four years but has not yet been advanced as a finalist for consideration by the full Hall of Fame committee. Last year, a blue ribbon committee selected Holmgren as its coaching finalist, but Holmgren did not get enough support from the full body for enshrinement.
Payton has often called a week-plus coaching the NFC Pro Bowl team after his first year as a head coach a formative experience because Belichick was coaching the AFC team and he had a chance to pick the veteran’s brain.
“The timing was perfect,” Payton said. “I was in the NFC, he was in the AFC, and he was very gracious.”
The pair hosted a series of joint practices over the years and Payton always thought highly of how Belichick’s teams comported themselves.
“Honestly, if we at that time weren’t paying attention to what they were doing (in New England) — we looked closely at it,” Payton said. “Smart, tough, reliable football players. … I’d consider him a close coaching friend who’s had an impact on how we look at building a roster.”
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