The controversy over Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame snub isn’t quieting down. The fact that the greatest head coach in the NFL won’t be a first-ballot HoFer still doesn’t seem right. And the criticism just got more personal. Now, one of the coach’s former players has launched a scathing public attack on the voting committee.

Former New England safety Rodney Harris sounded off on former Indianapolis head coach and now HoF voter Tony Dungy, who refused to admit who he voted for. Dungy tried to explain that the new voting criteria made things a little complicated for the committee, but Harris had none of it.

“There’s nobody more deserving to be in that Hall of Fame than Coach Belichick,” Harris said on NBC on February 8. “I’ve seen his greatness. I’ve seen him design defenses to stop your offense. And you just look at the players that he’s impacted, he’s been unbelievable.

“When I look out throughout the Hall of Fame, and even a guy like Tom Brady—Tom Brady wouldn’t be Tom Brady without Bill Belichick. And that’s the disappointing part of it, coach. You guys got it wrong.”

Nobody knows the pain of this snub better than coach Belichick himself, who was surprised that even six Super Bowl wins couldn’t sway the voters. For two decades, Bill Belichick became the face of the NFL, as the Patriots developed into a de facto league winner. So when Belichick became eligible for the Hall of Fame, he was a slam-dunk choice. There is no other figure who deserves the honor more than him, simply because of his legacy on the field.

Belichick’s path to the Hall was unexpectedly complicated by his placement in the senior coach category. This pitted him against beloved figures like Roger Craig, whose long wait for induction may have swayed voters looking to correct a past oversight—a procedural quirk that ultimately cost the legendary coach his first-ballot entry. As HoF voter and Kansas City Star reporter Vahe Gregorian explained, the fact that some candidates in this lot would have exhausted their eligibility soon was a factor in Belichick being given a miss.

The controversial outcome and the process that led to it prompted a response from Hall of Fame President Jim Porter, who addressed the need for potential changes. For starters, voters will be convening in person, a practice halted by the pandemic. The Hall of Fame is also thinking about releasing vote totals and individual ballots to the public. But Porter specifically stressed that voters have to stick to choosing the “most deserving,” regardless of eligibility.

“I’m not here to tell them who the most deserving is,” Porter said in an interview. “If the Hall was to tell who the most deserving is, we wouldn’t need them to vote. We understand that. We just want the rules followed.

“The responsibility is to pick the most deserving. They got down to where that number was. So, my question is, is everybody picking the most deserving?”

Jim Porter highlighted the one judging criterion that essentially governs Hall of Fame voting. However, the fact that there are different kinds of voters in the first place has also attracted some criticism. Deion Sanders, who has thankfully survived this voting debacle and earned a spot in the Hall of Fame, ardently voiced his demands.

Deion Sanders calls for Hall of Fame members to be given sole voting rights

Coach Prime made the cut in his very first year of eligibility. However, he knows how some deserving people were kept out by the committee. Terrell Owens is a specific example. Now, Sanders wants a harsh change in who gets the voting rights.

“I wouldn’t want the Grinch who stole Christmas voting on a beauty pageant,” Sanders said on ESPN’s This is Football podcast. “Ask the Hall of Famers.”

Sanders outright denied the host’s claim of media personnel keeping up with the league. He doesn’t agree that their decision carries weight, especially because their perspective is markedly different from that of a sitting Hall of Famer. According to Sanders, it is the latter who have been through the ordeal of actually playing the game.

“We are applauding them [the media] for something, clapping for somebody that shouldn’t be clapped for it. We can’t do that. No, they’re not. They are messing it up consistently.”

However, the general media are united in their disappointment that Bill Belichick was not voted into the Hall of Fame. This would not have been the case if any other figure were in the coach’s position. In his career as the Patriots’ head coach, Belichick might not have been an easy person to deal with in the media. But his record and contributions to the NFL have long warranted his inclusion in the Hall of Fame. Had it not been for so many complications, he might have been among the 2026 inductees.