Rodney Harrison—Is He a Hall of Famer?

By John Turney 

When the Pro Football Hall of Fame last week released its list of 15 finalists for the Class of 2024, one of the mild surprises was the inclusion of former Chargers' and Patriots' safety Rodney Harrison. In 11 years of eligibility, he'd never been a finalist and only three times was a semifinalist.

Then again, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise.

After all, he played 15 seasons in the NFL and was a three-time All-Pro (twice AP and once Sporting News) and a two-time Super Bowl winner. A strong safety who could play deep coverages and pick off passes, he was as effective as any safety blitzer in NFL history.

"Best safety I’ve coached," said Patriots' coach Belichick. "A fantastic player, person, great competitor ... could do it all. One of the most versatile players I’ve ever coached. He could cover. He really could play corner. He was a great blitzer. He was a great tackler.

"Was really, really, really hard to block in a running game as a blitzer ... He’s very explosive ... (and) he was a thumper. He was a contact player but ran well. Very instinctive, did a great job disguising coverages."

That about says it all. Except, apparently, it doesn't. There was more.

"Tremendous player," added the rarely verbose Belichick. "Great practice player too/ Made everybody else on the team better ... He brought a level of competitiveness, intensity, focus."

Hall-of-Fame coach Tony Dungy agreed, endorsing Harrison as a Hall-of-Fame candidate on last weekend's Sunday Night Football in America telecast ... where the two are colleagues

So why hasn't he been discussed before now?

Part of it may be his candor. When former teammate Ty Law was enshrined in the Hall in 2019, Harrison was salty about so few players from the Patriots' dynasty wearing Gold Jackets. He didn't like the perception that the team was all about Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.

In comments that suggest Harrison doesn't own a copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People", Dale Carnegie's 1936 self-help book, Harrison took direct aim at Hall voters when the subject of New England's greatness was broached..

"They weren’t just system guys," he said of his teammates. "It’s unfair when people say, 'As long as you had Tom and Bill'...Well, dude, Tom and Bill can’t get it done by themselves. It takes a lot of really smart, great players.

"It’s just unfortunate; almost a form of discrimination. People don’t want to elevate us ... or recognize ... or acknowledge how great we are because they’re such haters. Everywhere I go, people hate on the Patriots. So we don’t get credit."

He might be right. In the last handful of years, only defensive lineman Richard Seymour joined Law in Canton. But now Harrison could be next ... and for the right reason: He was all of what Belichick said he was.

His versatility shows in the record books. In fact, there's one space he occupies alone. He's the only defensive back to record 30 or more interceptions and have 30 or more sacks. Plus, he was the first of any player at any position, joined later by only Hall-of-Fame linebacker Ray Lewis.

"I'm not a huge stats guy," said former New England GM Scott Pioli on the 30-30 club. "But if we’re gonna talk about stats for this moment, let’s talk about that."

There's more.

Harrison is also one of only two defensive backs to have six or more interceptions and six or more sacks in the same season. That happened in 2000 when, remarkably, he was voted to neither All-Pro or to the Pro Bowl.

He's the only defensive back with six seasons of three or more sacks and two or more interceptions.  Hall-of-Fame cornerback Rande Barber is next, with four. If you're willing to accept unofficial sacks, then count Hall-of-Famer Larry Wilson with four, too.

Besides sacks, Harrison had a substantial number of tackles for loss, either on a run or pass play behind the line of scrimmage. According to the Patriots' media guide, no safety made more solo tackles in the time he played.

Then there's this: Harrison was among the last of the big hitters -- some said borderline dirty -- that earned him the nickname, "The Hit Man," in San Diego. He dished out big hits, and he took big hits ... in the wallet.

He was fined $15,000 in 1999 and another $40K in 2000. In 2002 he was suspended for one game and fined a game's pay for a hit on Jerry Rice. Add another $111,000 for that. But those weren't the only ones.

In 1997, a hit on Andre Risen cost him $10,000, plus another $3,500 for taunting Rison. After that, Harrison said he felt "like a marked man," and maybe he was. But it was because his reputation got around to the league. The year before he'd been fined $6,000 for a blow to the 49ers' Mike Caldwell in a preseason game. He appealed, won and the fine was rescinded.

"In my opinion," said Pioli, "Rodney Harrison has been kept out of the Hall of Fame due to the suspensions and fines. It's a lazy argument. Unfortunately, there are other football immortals with worse marks against them."

But that reputation may have limited his postseason honors, as well. In addition to the years he was chosen to an All-Pro team recognized by the Hall, keen eyes put him on their personal All-Pro teams. One was former Hall-of-Fame voter Len Pasquarelli, then of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who made Harrison one of his All-Pro safeties in 1997.

In 2004, three other Hall-of-Fame voters -- two of them current -- also put him on their teams. They were Mike Sando, who at the time wrote for the Tacoma News-Tribune, Ira Kaufman, a columnist at the Tampa Tribune and Ira Miller, the San Francisco Chronicle's longtime NFL writer.

Maybe they were on to something.

But Harrison's impact plays didn't end in the regular season. In postseason play he intercepted seven passes, including two in the Super Bowl XXXIX defeat of Philadelphia where he had a sack and 12 tackles. In Super Bowl XXXVIII the year before, he made nine tackles and sacked quarterback Jake Delhomme once in New England's victory over Carolina.

"When you look at film," said Pioli," when you look at tape during Rodney's time, there's no doubt that he’s one of the best players in the National Football League at that position."

Eye test ... original member of the 30 sack-30 pick club ... big hitter ... leader ...  winner ... Harrison has the goods. And now he's finally in the room, to be discussed as a Hall-of-Fame finalist. 

That's a start. Where his candidacy goes from here is up to the Hall's 50 selectors. But if they follow Belichick's advice, they will have little choice but to one day punch Rodney Harrison's ticket into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Career stats—