Bill Belichick Makes Hall Of Fame Case For Three Former Patriots Stars

Bill Belichick believes Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Rodney Harrison all belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

New England’s head coach on Friday explained why all three of those Patriots greats deserve gold jackets, though he noted the Hall of Fame’s lack of specific “criteria” makes it difficult to predict which players will and won’t be voted in.

Seymour and Wilfork — dominant defensive linemen who both won multiple Super Bowls with New England — both made the list of 26 Hall of Fame semifinalists announced earlier this week.

“Those are the two best defensive linemen that I’ve coached,” Belichick said. “Vince is a phenomenal player, and he was quite different from Richard. Richard was a phenomenal player and quite different from Vince. But both very dominant in their own way and kind of in their own position. Even though Richard played nose his rookie year and Vince played end his rookie year, Vince was really an inside player and Richard was really a three- to a five-technique.

“Richard is almost impossible to match up against, but in a way, Vince is almost impossible — he’s impossible to block in the running game, and in the passing game, there’s some guys that match up against him, but his overall strength and athleticism for his size was pretty impressive. And because we had players like Seymour, there was less of a need to use Vince on third down, although we used him on third down. He had some huge plays on third down, like in the (2011) AFC Championship Game against Baltimore. He really won that game with his fourth-quarter pass rush on (Joe) Flacco up the middle of the pocket.

“So I think it’s an interesting question. In my Hall of Fame, those two guys are there, without a doubt. But when you start comparing apples and oranges and Vince’s style of play compared to a guy like John Randle or somebody like that, they’re just completely different players. … I think with no criteria at all to work with, really at any position for any player, it’s just what flavor you prefer and what flavor somebody else prefers. That’s really what it comes down to.”

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Seymour, a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist in each of the last two years, was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame earlier this season.

Belichick later added, unprompted, that Harrison “absolutely” would be in his Hall of Fame, as well. The hard-hitting safety was a 2021 semifinalist but failed to make that cut in this year’s round of Hall voting.

“The only thing I would add relative to those two players, to Vince and to Richard Seymour, I think that Rodney Harrison 100 percent (belongs) in that conversation,” Belichick said. “I’ve coached some of the other safeties that have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and not taking anything away from them, but certainly Rodney Harrison belongs in that conversation, and he belongs in the conversation with other players that are already there.”

Tom Brady, Mike Vrabel and former Patriots personnel chief Scott Pioli also vouched for Harrison’s candidacy this week.

Ty Law, Randy Moss and Junior Seau are the only Belichick-era Patriots players who have been enshrined in Canton, with Seau playing his best seasons in San Diego. Of that group, only Law won a Super Bowl with New England.