Robert Kraft is back in the Pro Football Hall of Fame conversation.
The Patriots owner is one of five contributor candidates announced Wednesday by the Canton, Ohio-based Hall, joining Doug Williams, Virginia McCaskey, John Wooten and Ralph Hay. The contributor subcommittee made its choices from an original pool of 42 nominees, and one of those five will move forward to be considered for the Hall’s 2027 class.
Kraft has owned New England since 1994, and his run has produced six Super Bowl titles and five more trips to the game. He was also a finalist for the class of 2026, alongside former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, but neither made the cut.
The Hall’s contributor process will now narrow further as the selection committee builds toward early 2027. The final candidate pool will include one contributor, one coach and 13 players. That group will be trimmed to 10 and then seven, with all 15 remaining candidates in the same category.
A 25-person selection committee will then vote for six people, and a candidate needs 80% support to get in. The Hall said that format should produce anywhere from three to seven enshrinees each year, with five or six the most likely outcomes.
Williams brings a different kind of Hall case. He was the MVP of Super Bowl 22, a first-round pick of the Buccaneers in 1978, and later stepped in for Washington when Jay Schroeder was injured in the following season.
He led an impressive playoff run and threw four touchdown passes in a 42-10 win over Denver in the Super Bowl. He has spent the last 13 seasons in Washington’s front office after earlier stops with the Jaguars and Buccaneers.
McCaskey, who died in 2025 at age 102, served as the Bears’ principal owner from 1983 until her death. The daughter of team founder George Halas, she oversaw a stretch that included a Super Bowl 20 victory and another Super Bowl appearance.
Wooten’s football life stretched from the field to the front office. He was a two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman over nine seasons with Cleveland and Washington, won an NFL title with the Browns and then spent nearly three decades in scouting and personnel work with the Cowboys, Eagles and Ravens. Since 2003, he has chaired the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which works to expand opportunities for minorities in coaching and front-office jobs across pro football.
Hay rounds out the group as a foundational figure in the league’s early days. He owned the Canton Bulldogs from 1918-1922 and hosted the NFL’s formational meeting in his automobile dealership in downtown Canton.
The Hall also noted a change to the contributor category this year, expanding it to allow consideration of someone with a player and coaching career, in addition to off-field contributions.
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