Jim Harbaugh recently made a unique phone call to inform one of his former teammates that he was about to receive a significant honor.
Harbaugh, who is entering his second season as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, conducted a FaceTime with former Chargers All-Pro defensive back Rodney Harrison to inform him that he will be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame later this year.
“The way you conducted your business, the way you played, anybody who knows football loves the way you played the game,” Harbaugh told Harrison, his teammate in San Diego for two seasons. “Forever been proud to have been your teammate, man. You got what you deserved.”
Harrison, now 52 and an analyst for NBC, spent the first nine years of his NFL career with the Chargers, who selected him in the fifth round of the 1994 NFL Draft. As a rookie, Harrison helped the Chargers reach the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. He recorded five interceptions the following year despite not starting in a single game. That changed in his third year, however, as Harrison cracked the Chargers’ starting lineup and remained there for the rest of his time with the team as he developed into one of the game’s top strong safeties.
In 2003, Harrison was signed by the Patriots as a free agent. He played a considerable role in New England’s back-to-back Super Bowl wins that included a pick-six in the Patriots’ win over the Steelers in the 2004 AFC Championship game and two more picks against the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. In 2003, Harrison earned his second career All-Pro honor and finished fourth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Pro Football Hall of Fame next for Harrison?
Along with his success, Harrison’s career is also largely remembered for being on the wrong side of one of the craziest plays in Super Bowl history, the infamous David Tyree “helmet catch,” and for his reputation as being a dirty player. Harrison’s list of questionable hits during his career included a low hit on then-Rams quarterback Trent Green during the 1999 preseason that ended his season. The Rams famously won the Super Bowl that year with Kurt Warner playing in relief of Green.
Harrison played in an era when the NFL was making a conscious effort to do away with hits that could lead to serious injuries. Had Harrison played in the 1970s, many, if not all, of his hits would have been considered normal. But because he played in the era that he played in, Harrison became the poster boy for how the league didn’t want defenders playing moving forward.
That could be why Harrison didn’t receive more individual accolades during his career and could be impacting his chances of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He’s been close to induction on several occasions (he was a semifinalist for induction in 2024), but Harrison and former Cowboy Darren Woodson are considered the best safeties who do not currently have a spot in Canton, Ohio.
While Harrison is still waiting for that induction, he will soon be part of the Chargers Hall of Fame, a fraternity that includes Junior Seau, his former teammate who was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
“I’m very grateful,” Harrison said of the honor. “The Chargers were the first to give me an opportunity, took a chance on me. It’s been great.”
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Author: Bryan DeArdo
June 30, 2025 | 3:55 pm
