Late in the 2017 season, after investing heavily in the outside linebacker position in back-to-back years with the selections of Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt, the Pittsburgh Steelers found themselves in a tough situation with one of the all-time greats in franchise history in James Harrison.
Harrison was losing playing time to the young outside linebackers, and was seemingly being viewed as an insurance policy behind the two. Then, the unthinkable happened: the Steelers released Harrison, and the standout linebacker went on to sign with the hated-rival New England Patriots.
There were reports of Harrison falling asleep in meetings, not staying for games when he was inactive, and generally creating headaches within the facility over playing time and his usage. But now, all these years later, Harrison continues to try and straighten things out through the media.
Appearing on “The Pivot Podcast” with former Steelers’ safety and teammate Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder, Harrison recalled what happened late in his tenure with the Steelers and why he signed with the Patriots.
For Harrison, all he wanted was for head coach Mike Tomlin to be 100% honest with him when it came to the plan for him instead of dragging things along. He also added he felt he was the better, more productive player than Watt and Dupree at the time.
“…I’m going back and forth, just back and forth and I’m like, ‘you know what? I wanna play.’ Like, you can say, oh T.J. and Bud were better than me, they beat me out or whatever. But I didn’t even practice in training camp. So, I mean, at that point in time, do I believe that both of ’em were better than me? No,” Harrison said of his decision to sign with the Patriots and what went into it.
While he was sitting in New England, Harrison was debating signing with the Patriots, or heading back to Pittsburgh for the 2017 season. Ultimately, after sitting on the bench for much of the season behind Watt and Dupree, Harrison decided he wanted to play, and the Patriots were going to offer that opportunity.
Once he signed with the Patriots, Harrison made an impact with two sacks in his first game, both of them coming late in the game. Reports later surfaced that Harrison was sleeping in meetings, and that players within the locker room were losing respect for him with the way he was conducting himself.
Harrison brushed that all off at the time, but years later it all came down to Harrison wanting head coach Mike Tomlin to be honest with him regarding the plan, whether he was going to play or if the plan was to sit him as an insurance policy.
“And I’m like, you know what? I’m signing. I don’t even need to wait for ’em to come back because me going back there, I’m gonna be back in the same position, mad that I’m just sitting there. When I told you Week One at Cleveland, ‘Hey, I see what y’all doing. Y’all wanna play your younger players.’ Just release me, let me go so I could go play out this year somewhere else. Whatever. ‘No, no, no, no. Nah. We good. We got a plan for you. We got a plan for you. We got a plan.’ Like, you ain’t got a plan,” Harrison said of the way the Steelers handled things regarding his usage defensively. “Your plan is just to hold me here just in case something happens that you got the backup. But then when the numbers hit and you’re like, oh, we’re good, then you ended up releasing me anyway.
“I understand the business of it, but my thing to be 100% with you is I need honesty, dude. I don’t care if it’s, if like he says, you asked a tough question. I’m gonna give you a tough answer. I’ve been asking tough questions. I was asking tough questions then, but I wasn’t getting the tough answers.”
The way things ended for Harrison in Pittsburgh was rather frustrating. He very clearly wanted to still play and felt that he was better than Watt and Dupree to at least have a role in a rotation. He also thought he was being held hostage, in a sense, because the team wouldn’t release him and let him go elsewhere.
Fortunately, the way the 2017 season played out with Harrison didn’t hinder his legacy with the franchise. He didn’t win a ring with the Patriots, and he was inducted into the Steelers’ Hall of Honor in 2023.
