ENGLEWOOD – The Pro Football Hall of Fame chances for Mike Shanahan and Dan Reeves are on hold for another year.

The former Broncos coaches had been semifinalists to be the one finalist in the coach category for the class of 2026. However, the Hall of Fame as expected announced Wednesday that Bill Belichick, who led New England to six Super Bowl wins, is the lone finalist.

Shanahan coached the Broncos from 1995-2008 and won two Super Bowls. Reeves, who died in 2022, coached the Broncos from 1981-92 and lost three Super Bowls with them.

The Hall of Fame also announced the one finalist in the contributor category is Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and the three finalists in the senior player category are quarterback Ken Anderson, running back Roger Craig and defensive lineman L.C. Greenwood.

The Hall of Fame 50-person at-large committee will vote early next year on each of the five overall finalists, with a maximum of three being part of the class of 2026. Any finalist would need to get 80% of the vote.

Modern-era finalists, who have yet to be announced, would need to get 80% of the vote to be enshrined. The total class of 2026 will be between four and eight individuals.

Special committees determine finalists in each category. In the coach category, there were nine semifinalists, the others being Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Marty Schottenheimer and George Seifert.

“There are a few planes right out here on the runway,’’ Broncos coach Sean Payton said Wednesday at Broncos Park about coaches he believes are due to make the Hall of Fame. “One of them is Belichick, the other one is Shanahan and then there’s Holmgren. It’s just a matter of when they take off.”

Belichick, now head coach at North Carolina, is considered a cinch to be elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was Cleveland’s head coach from 1991-95 and headed New England from 2000-23. Well before then, he was a Broncos assistant in 1978, helping with the defense and special teams.

At the Pro Bowl in Hawaii after the 2006 season, Payton said he got to know Belichick well and that he long has been a “close coaching friend.” At that Pro Bowl, Payton was coaching the NFC after his New Orleans team lost in the NFC Championship Game to Chicago in his first year as a head coach, and Belichick was coaching the AFC after the Patriots lost in the AFC Championship Game to Indianapolis.

“I got to know him,’’ said Payton, who coached the Saints from 2006-11 and 2013-21 and has been with Denver since 2023. “The timing was perfect. … He was very gracious. … I was lucky enough as a young coach that that unfolded that way. … We’d only played each other once every four years (due to being in opposite conferences). So I know there were some good games, but more importantly for me was just the phone calls, the texts (between the two). … (Belichick has) had an impact on the way we looked at building a roster.”

Payton hopes Belichick, 73, eventually returns to the NFL.

“I miss him not being in the league, I wouldn’t be surprised, and I would be somewhat hopeful that he ends up back in the league,’’ Payton said. “We’d all be better for it. He’s something.”

Also applauding Belichick being named a Hall of Fame finalist was Broncos backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham. Stidham played for Belichick on the Patriots from 2019-21, his first three NFL seasons.

“He’s an incredible coach,’’ said Stidham, in his third Denver season. “I’ve been very fortunate to play for two Hall of Fame coaches in Bill and Sean.”

Stidham continues to keep in touch with Belichick and is good friends with Steve Belichick, a former Patriots assistant who is the defensive coordinator at North Carolina. Stidham has taken vacations in recent years with Steve Belichick and each of their wives, and Bill Belichick sometimes also has shown up to visit them in Nantucket.