Earlier in the day Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that Pittsburgh Steelers right outside linebacker James Harrison was back in Pittsburgh today to get his bothersome knee examined and now Bouchette reports via Twitter that Harrison indeed had a knee scope procedure scheduled for today.
Following up on the report made Bouchette, Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports via Twitter that Harrison\’s agent, Bill Parise, told him that Harrison was scheduled for knee surgery this morning and that he will know more later.
The news that Harrison would likely need the minor surgery on his knee, that has kept him off the practice field since the first week of OTA\’s, was first reported Tuesday evening by Mike Bires of The Beaver County Times after he talked to Parise. Parise said in the interview with Bires, “With the exception of this little knee thing, James is probably healthier now that he’s been in three years. He’s extremely fit. He just has to get this irritation behind his knee cap cleared up. That’s what’s causing the swelling, and (the Steelers) just want to get rid of that.”
The scope being done today means that Harrison will remain on the PUP list for at least a few more weeks and that he likely will not be able to play at all during the preseason. The main focus now for Harrison, who has been relegated to working inside with the trainers as opposed to outside with the other players currently on the PUP list, will be to get himself ready for the week one game against the Denver Broncos.
Should the recovery process from the scope, which generally takes at least a few weeks to recover from, does not go well, Harrison runs the risk of either missing the first few games of the season on the Steelers inactive list, or worst, the first six weeks should he be placed on the Reserve PUP list to start the season.
UPDATE: Bouchette now reports via Twitter that a source told him that the scope procedure performed this morning on Harrison, “went well.”
