Bill Belichick's Hall of Fame Snub Gets Wow-Worthy Comment from Chargers Great

The stunning apparent omission of Bill Belichick from this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class continues to get big reaction for past and current players, as well as everyone around the globe even slightly familiar with the sport.

That includes past notable Los Angeles Chargers players.

By far the most notable in this category is former linebacker Shawne Merriman, who lit into the voting process for Hall, going as far to add a personal account to his opinion.

The take, as of this writing, has more than 40,000 likes:

I have a Pro Bowl helmet that I walk by almost everyday. It’s signed by some of the best players in the history of the NFL, legends, HOF’ers and real GOAT’s. The Pro Bowl use to be a badge of honor and respected. Things have changed
— Shawne Merriman (@shawnemerriman) January 26, 2026

It’s a really telling comment from Merriman and it matches the overall tone of the discussions right now about the issue.

Whether it was a fault of the messy Hall of Fame voting process or actual score settling from someone like Bill Polian (who says he can’t remember if he voted for Brady or not), the reported snub does a massive disservice to the Hall.

Clearly, those associated with the game, like Merriman, feel some type of way about it. And it matches the comments of one Tom Brady, too.

"I don't understand it. I mean, I was with him every day. If he's not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there's really no coach that should ever be a Hall of Famer," Brady said.

The problems that apply to all teams and candidates certainly extend to the Chargers. There’s a massive coaching logjam for the Hall, so if every subsequent coach needs to “wait” so they aren’t first ballot, future Chargers names will suffer the same thing.

Ditto for Chargers players. Fans just saw it with the delay to even get Antonio Gates enshrined and he was about as easy of a call as it gets. How many others will keep falling behind as the self-imposed logjams continue?

There's no easy answer. But past and current players will keep weighing in on the matter. For Chargers fans, there's a little personal investment, sure: Philip Rivers' teams ran into Brady, Belichick and even Polian plenty of times in those stacked AFC days.

But looking above and beyond that, as a Chargers great has just pointed out, the situation needs addressed.

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