Why isn’t Bill Belichick in “Madden?” Who the heck is Griffin Murphy, and why is he coaching on the New England Patriots sideline?

These two questions pop up every summer as the latest edition of the “Madden NFL” video game franchise from EA Sports comes out. “Madden 20,” which was released Friday, is no different as Belichick’s name and likeness are absent from the game. Instead, a stand-in named “Griffin Murphy” is once again designated as the coach of the Patriots.

Why? Licensing issues and Belichick stubbornness.

EA Sports has a contract with the NFL Coaches Association that allows them to use the names and likenesses of guys like Andy Reid and Mike Tomlin in the game. Belichick, though, is the lone NFL head coach who is not a member of the Coaches Association -- and has refused to join the group for years. As a result, EA Sports does not have permission to put Belichick in the game.

So, instead, the makers of the video game have put in a generic coach to fill in for Belichick. At times, that stand-in has been named “Josh Moore,” “Chad Masters" or simply “NE Coach.” In recent years, the DoppelBelichick has been dubbed “Griffin Murphy.”

So where does “Griffin Murphy” come from? According to Game Informer, the coach is based off the likeness of former EA Sports executive Roy Harvey, whose face was initially scanned as a placeholder. Harvey -- a Patriots fan himself -- told Game Informer that the name “Griffin Murphy” is an “amalgamation of family names.”

Belichick typically abstains from all Coaches Association activities, including the annual coaches picture taken at the NFL Meetings. But in 2015, Belichick took part in the picture. Later that offseason, he was asked if he was going to be appear in “Madden.”

Belichick, who is famously gruff with the media, had the following exchange with the reporter who brought up the subject:

Reporter: “Since you were in the coaches’ picture, are you going to be in the Madden game?

Belichick: “What Madden game?”

Reporter: “John Madden has this video game...”

Belichick: “I have no idea. You should ask John about that.”

According to Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, EA Sports pays the Coaches Association for use of coaches’ likenesses, with that money then being redistributed to the coaches. All that would be required from Belichick, Wetzel reported in 2012, would be to join the group and then receive the money from various NFLCA deals.

So, why hasn’t Belichick joined the group?

“I don’t know,” he told Wetzel, who went on to write that Belichick’s refusal to join the union stems from his generally anti-establishment attitude toward the NFL.

Meanwhile, other NFL coaches are apparently paying close attention to their likenesses in the game. First-year Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury was unhappy with how he looked in the game, saying to ESPN that he looks “like I’m on ‘The Walking Dead.’”

Belichick isn’t the first sports figure in New England to have his likeness oddly absent from an EA Sports video game. Back in the mid-2000s, then-Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar was replaced by a generic player in editions of “MVP Baseball" along with Barry Bonds. Like with Belichick, this was a licensing issue that centered around not being in the union. Millar was not a member of the MLB Players Association, due to him participating as a replacement player during the 1994-95 MLB player strike. Meanwhile, Bonds had withdrawn from the MLBPA licensing agreement.