Given his team’s unprecedented success and the Dallas Cowboys’ struggles over the last 28 years, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is questioning why Jerry Jones is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Kraft has six Super Bowl rings, but has never been seriously considered for enshrinement to Canton. Jones, who has three championships but none since the 1995 season, was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2017.
“He hasn’t been to the NFC title game in two decades and he gets in?” Kraft told a confidant, according to a new ESPN story. “How does that work?”
In 2022, Kraft and Jones clashed in a meeting to approve a new contract for commissioner Roger Goodell with Jerry reportedly telling the Patriots’ boss, “Don’t f*** with me!”
According to ESPN, the 12-person subcommittees determining the final HOF ballot hasn’t never even forwarded Kraft’s name to the full 50 selectors.
Among Kraft’s ownership accomplishments are the helping negotiate the end of the 2011 lockout and chairing the committee that recently negotiated $110 billion in TV rights. Jones has long been considered the league’s best marketer, helping the blockbuster move to Fox in 1994 and leading the charge for teams to cut their own endorsement deals with giants such as Miller Lite, Pepsi and Nike.
Detractors of Kraft’s candidacy point to the numerous scandals, including Patriots’ “Spygate” and “Deflategate,” and his own high-profile episode at a Florida massage parlor.
According to ESPN, “Spygate” is the lock on Canton’s door.
“Some voters believe he was part of the biggest cheating scandal in NFL history,” a veteran Hall voter said. “That’s a very tough one to overcome.”
Since 2000, only five owners have been enshrined: Jones, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Dan Rooney, the Buffalo Bills’ Ralph Wilson, the San Francisco 49ers’ Eddie DeBartolo and the Denver Broncos’ Pat Bowlen.
