The snubbing of both Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft from the Hall of Fame this year has led many fans and analysts to wonder if they'll face the same situation next year. For ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, their snubbing should be a warning to Tom Brady.
On Tuesday's edition of First Take, Smith warned that the Hall of Fame voters would probably "punish" Brady for the same reason that they supposedly punished Belichick and Kraft for decades.
"Based on the trend, they're going to do it to Tom Brady too. It makes no sense whatsoever, and as far as I'm concerned, it's the Hall of Shame," Smith warned.
It's understandable that someone would reach this conclusion based on what's happened in the past week. The coach and owner with more Super Bowl rings than any other both got snubbed - so why wouldn't the quarterback under those same circumstances.
The problem (or non-problem) with Smith's statement is that they're not the same circumstances.
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The non-issue
The good news for Brady is that he's not nearly as likely that he gets snubbed as Belichick and Kraft were. The main reason for the snubs were that the two Patriots icons were lumped into a very small stack of candidates of which only three could be voted on. Some voters clearly thought that it was more prudent to vote for the other candidates now for fear of them never being eligible for the Hall of Fame again.
Brady, by contrast, will be eligible with the rest of the players, not senior members or contributors. As a result, voters can safely vote in Brady without having to fear for other candidates' future prospects.
That being said, Patriots fans are going to be on max paranoia level all the way until the announcement is made in a couple of years.