This past Sunday most of us sat and watched Former Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison play in Super Bowl LII as a member of the hated New England Patriots and that includes team president Art Rooney II. On Wednesday, Rooney was asked to talk about what all transpired this past season in regard to Harrison that ultimately resulted in the franchises all-time sack leader being waived in Week 16.
According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rooney said Wednesday during his annual end-of-the-season interview with the local media that waiving Harrison “was a disappointment,” but also indicated that he was involved in that decision.
Art Rooney said waiving James Harrison was a disappointment but indicated he was involved. “We had discussions about James over the course of the season.” Said he wished James could have ended his career with Steelers
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) February 7, 2018
“We had discussions about James over the course of the season,” said Rooney, who reportedly also added that he wished Harrison could have ended his career with Steelers.
The Steelers team president also reportedly said on Wednesday that both the Steelers and Harrison probably share some blame as to how things ultimately played out this season with Harrison, who played all of 40 defensive snaps and was inactive for several games prior to his December waiving.
“There’s probably blame on both sides of the fence,” Rooney said.
Rooney is certainly right as the Steelers coaches probably could have done a better job when it came to them possibly carving out some extra snaps on both sides of the defense for Harrison throughout the season. Additionally, Harrison probably should have handled his end of things better when it came to his attitude during the second half the season when it was obvious that he wasn’t happy with his usage, or lack thereof.
Rooney apparently didn’t have too much to say about Harrison ultimately deciding to sign with the Patriots just a few days after the Steelers had waived him.
More on Harrison from Rooney: “There’s probably blame on both sides of the fence.” As for signing with Patriots, “When you make decision to let players go, you know someone can pick him up.”
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) February 7, 2018
“When you make decision to let players go, you know someone can pick him up,” Rooney reportedly said on Wednesday, per Bouchette on Twitter.
Harrison, who played in one regular season game with the Patriots in addition to all three of their playoff games, has since indicated that he would like to play at least one more season and maybe even two. With that said, Harrison will turn 40 in May and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent come March. In short, there’s a decent chance that Super Bowl LII was the last game of Harrison’s long NFL career.
