‘You guys got it wrong’: Rodney Harrison calls out Tony Dungy over Bill Belichick Hall of Fame snub

New England Patriots

Dungy wouldn’t say whether he voted for Belichick. Harrison told him the committee got it absolutely wrong.

Rodney Harrison let Tony Dungy make his explanation for how Bill Belichick was not elected as a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer, but once Dungy was finished, the former Patriots defensive back let him know exactly how he felt about the situation.

Dungy was asked directly whether or not he had voted for Belichick during a segment on NBC. He did not answer the question, instead choosing to talk about the voting process that led to former San Francisco running back Roger Craig getting in ahead of Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

“I’m not going to disclose that,” Dungy said. “When you come on the committee, you take an oath that you’re not going to discuss any of the debates, anything that happened there. I’m not going to put any of my teammates under the bus, who they voted for, who I voted for.”

“Here’s the situation. In this category, coaches, contributors, senior players, there are five finalists. We voted as a team, our group voted, Roger Craig got the most votes. I stand behind that as a teammate. That’s how we voted.”

“But, here’s the problem. We voted for three people, there are two other slots available. Bill Belichick definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, Robert Kraft definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, L.C. Greenwood definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Ken Anderson deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and we’ve got two slots.”

Dungy blamed the results on a rules change that the Hall of Fame made on the voting process. He said if the same vote were taken two years ago under different rules, both Belichick and Kraft would have gotten in.

Harrison told Dungy face-to-face that he disagreed with the results, no matter what the new rules say.

“What I would say coach is that any list that doesn’t include Bill Belichick at the top is absolutely wrong,” Harrison said. “A lot of the players that we mentioned, they’re great players. I played with Drew Brees, I played with Adam Vinatieri, but there’s nobody more deserving to be in that Hall of Fame than coach Belichick. “

“I’ve seen his greatness. I’ve seen him design defenses to stop your offense. You just look at the players he’s impacted, he’s been unbelievable. When I look throughout the Hall of Fame and even at a guy like Tom Brady, Tom Brady wouldn’t be Tom Brady without Bill Belichick. That’s the disappointing part of it coach, and you guys got it wrong.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.