Exclusive | Ex-NFL superstar’s shocking claim on Tom Brady’s Hall of Fame future

SAN FRANCISCO — Terrell Owens believes Tom Brady should not get into the Hall of Fame when he’s first eligible in 2028.

During a sitdown interview with The California Post on Wednesday, Owens said that following Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft’s reported Canton snubs this week, Brady, too, should have to endure an uncomfortable wait for a gold jacket when it’s his time for the call in a few years.

“Honestly, if you’re looking at it,” said Owens, who appeared at Super Bowl LX Radio Row on behalf of Sharpie, “if Belichick doesn’t go in and Robert Kraft doesn’t go in first ballot, Tom Brady shouldn’t go in. 

“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.”

Brady’s resume, of course, says otherwise. In 23 NFL seasons, he won seven Super Bowls, earned MVP honors three times and was selected to the Pro Bowl on 15 different occasions. He also ended his time in the league with numerous records, including most-ever passing yards (89,214) and passing touchdowns (649).

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But Belichick’s resume was just as a strong, and once he didn’t get in on his first go-around this week, Owens made it clear Brady shouldn’t either, especially if things like Spygate and Deflategate played roles in the coach’s slight.

“If you want to bring up the idea of cheating, Tom Brady did the Deflategate,” Owens said. “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?”

Owens famously had his own battle with the Hall of Fame nearly a decade ago.

Despite statistics that suggest he’s one of the greatest receivers to ever play in the league, it took until his third try in 2018 to get his bronze bust.

He said on Wednesday the whole selection process is still “ridiculous” and a “travesty,” and he’d love to see big changes going forward.

“They need to put something in place in order for the Hall of Fame to be legit,” Owens said. “Because at this rate, it’s getting out of hand.

“The writers, they’re having too much power of the pen.”