Updating our report last night about former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, the Baltimore Sun reports on Wednesday that Harrison\’s agent, Bill Parise, said that he has spoken to Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome regarding his client, but that no negotiations had taken place as of yet.
“I\’ve talked to Ozzie, sure have, had a good talk about James,” Parise said, per the report. “It\’s early and we\’re not in negotiations, but we\’re having some good conversations. Baltimore would be an outstanding place for James to play because he knows the division and has that familiarity and they\’re a class organization. We\’ll see where it goes.”
The defending Super Bowl champions have lost a few key players on defense since the start of free agency as linebackers Dannell Ellerbe and Paul Kruger have signed elsewhere, and safety Bernard Pollard has been released. With linebacker Ray Lewis also retiring, the Ravens could use some linebackers. While Harrison certainly could wind up in Baltimore eventually, it appears that numbers haven\’t even been discussed yet.
Parise has apparently also talked to six other teams in addition about Harrison, who was released by the Steelers this past Saturday after not agreeing to take a pay cut.
Parise let the media in several NFL cities know on Sunday that Harrison was interested in playing for their local team, but no serious interest from any team has been reported as of yet.
The fact that Harrison will turn 35 in May, combined with his back and knee history, might be scaring away teams early on in free agency, especially if he is looking for a salary of over $3 million a season.
For those that wonder if the Steelers would be interested in taking back Harrison, I imagine they would, but it would likely require Harrison taking a one-year deal for the minimum. It\’s still way too early, however, to speculate about that as the new league year started just over 24 hours ago.
