Bill Belichick’s bust won’t be added to the Hall of Fame this year, but his fingerprints are all over Super Bowl 2026. 

Despite the removal of several big-name Belichick additions over the course of this season — cutting Kendrick Bourne and Jabrill Peppers, and trading Kyle Dugger and Keion White — the former czar added 16 of the 53 players on the Patriots’ Super Bowl 2026 roster during his reign as head coach and general manager (2000-23). 

And, of course, Belichick’s influence is seen in protégé head coach Mike Vrabel’s rules-mastery game management. 

“Bill’s roster building was questioned as people lined up to take shots at him,” Ole Miss head coach of offense Joe Judge, a longtime Belichick assistant, told The Post, “but it’s clear the mix of high-investment draft picks and free agents he acquired, along with the mid- and late-round picks now truly build the depth of the roster. You can still see the vision he had in this year’s Super Bowl, and Vrabel has done a phenomenal job — to say the least. He is doing things the right way.”