Terrell Owens sends warning to Tom Brady after Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft Hall of Fame snubs

On Tuesday, living legend Tom Brady either jokingly or somewhat seriously asked if he "should be a little concerned" about his Hall of Fame candidacy.

This comes after reports revealed that former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft won't be included in this year's Hall of Fame class. 

Retired wide receiver and Hall of Famer Terrell Owens is among the noteworthy members of the football community who think Brady may have reason to worry following recent developments. 

Should Tom Brady suffer a fate similar to Bill Belichick's and Robert Kraft's?

"If Belichick doesn’t go in and Robert Kraft doesn’t go in first ballot, Tom Brady shouldn’t go in," Owens said during a chat with The California Post (h/t New York Post). "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 don’t? He shouldn’t go in either." 

The combination of Brady, Kraft and Belichick guided the Patriots to six Super Bowl championships from 2000 through the 2019 season. In his first pro campaign away from New England, Brady led the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title. 

While Brady is widely revered as the GOAT, reports have indicated that voters held the "Spygate" and "Deflategate" scandals against Kraft and Belichick regarding their assumed Hall of Fame inductions. Brady may not have masterminded "Spygate," but he did receive a four-game suspension over his role in "Deflategate." 

Will "cheating" keep Tom Brady from being a first-ballot Hall of Famer? 

"If you want to bring up the idea of cheating, Tom Brady did the 'Deflategate,'" Owens continued. "Like, he had to serve a suspension because there was something he was doing. That’s cheating. That was proven. He got suspended. He did something. Otherwise, he would have never got suspended. So, how do you put Tom in on the first go-around, but you don’t put these two in?" 

Football fans who spent two decades of their lives watching Brady play may disagree with Owens' take. That said, it wasn't all that long ago when outsiders would have assumed Belichick and Kraft would be locks for this year's Hall of Fame class.