On Tuesday, Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said he anticipates veteran linebacker James Harrison wanting to play in 2016 and that he doesn’t see a scenario where the team wouldn’t want him back. Additionally, Harrison’s agent, Bill Parise, said Tuesday his client plans to honor the final year of his contract. With all of that said, Harrison let it be known late Tuesday afternoon on Twitter that he’s not ready to commit to playing in 2016 just yet.
“Hold up. It’s 1 thing to want to come back but it’s another to get the body back to where it needs to be. We’ll see.”
In short, it doesn’t sound like Harrison has made his final decision just yet and that’s not overly surprising being as the start of the new league year is still three weeks away. However, one would think that the Steelers would like a firm commitment from Harrison by the start of the new league year, or at the latest by the time the draft rolls around.
Harrison is currently under contract for the 2016 season and is scheduled to earn a base salary of $1.25 million. If you are keeping score at home, fellow outside linebackers Jarvis Jones and Arthur Moats are both scheduled to earn more than Harrison in 2016.
By the sound of things, Harrison has every intention of playing in 2016 and I suspect we’ll know for sure in a few more weeks.
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