Former Pittsburgh Steelers OLB James Harrison has been doing the media rounds lately, stopping in with former teammate Ryan Clark. Clark has developed a very successful post-playing career as an analyst and commentator, The Pivot drawing critical acclaim.
Appearing on the podcast, Harrison opened up about his final season in Pittsburgh. More than that, he shared his perspective of the dynamics with Mike Tomlin and the Steelers, along with the practicalities. They had just drafted three outside linebackers in the first round in a five-year span, which was kind of a clue.
Asked about his feelings on Mike Tomlin now and how that situation played out, Harrison was honest—to his memory. “I understand the business side of it, but my thing, to be 100 percent with you, is I want honesty, dude. One hundred, I don’t care”, he told The Pivot.
“I was asking tough questions, then, but I wasn’t getting the tough answers”. Harrison continued, “I was getting whatever they thought would keep me from doing whatever. At the end of it, I’m just, ‘Dude, tell me the truth. If that’s what you to do, cool’. ‘No, no, no, we got a plan’. ‘You ain’t got a plan, dude. If you plan is to hold me here and wait ‘til whatever, say that. I’m willing to deal with that, if you say that’”.
Of course, we don’t know what Mike Tomlin and James Harrison talked about during the Steelers’ 2017 season. Fans have long been willing to believe that he lies to his players, citing trade requests as the evidence. I tend to hold the opinion that players should never make assumptions about opportunities or playing time. And they should understand how the situation around them evolves, as, in this case, in the wake of the drafting of T.J. Watt in the first round in 2017.
That year, Tomlin didn’t have Harrison practicing much, and he spent much of the season a healthy scratch. Although he wasn’t always a “healthy” scratch on paper, listed with a back injury. But he recalled their Week 10 game against the Titans, during which he practiced, but did not dress. “I told ‘em right then and there, I said, ‘If I ain’t playing, I ain’t staying’, and I left and went home”.
That was in mid-November, and the Steelers released Harrison over a month later. In the interim, he reportedly fell asleep in meetings and generally engaged in insubordinate behavior. Yet the reason they released him at that time was more practical—they needed a roster spot to activate Marcus Gilbert from suspension.
It’s worth noting that Harrison said in the article linked a couple lines above this that he told Tomlin to release him after the first game of the season. And it’s also worth noting that in that same interview, he said Tomlin told him he would “be a dumbass to release you and one of these dudes get hurt and go down”. So he knew what the Steelers’ plan was; he just didn’t like it. And when you tell your head coach you don’t want to cooperate, you can’t act surprised by the response.
Harrison’s memory is not completely true to reality, as he said he never played after the infamous Chiefs game. He played 15 snaps against Kansas City, making a critical late play. But he also dressed for three games after that, playing in two of them for the Steelers. That includes the two games immediately following the Chiefs game, after which he developed his “back injury”. Of course, during that time, he was defying Tomlin by posting workout videos of himself doing heavy lifts.
The Steelers saw their future as T.J. Watt at right outside linebacker and Bud Dupree at left outside linebacker following the 2017 NFL Draft. Once Watt proved ready to go, Mike Tomlin saw James Harrison in a reduced role.
Ultimately, that’s not an unreasonable stance for a head coach to take, even if hindsight may beg to differ. While Harrison was still playing well, even he acknowledged to The Pivot that he was on the downside of his career. Even if he still held himself above Watt and Dupree. “I understand what you’re saying, that my productivity [wasn’t the same]. But I still believe that my productivity was better than theirs at that time”, he said.
And he is probably right, but there’s no going back now. Steelers fans will just continue to re-legislate the events of nearly a decade ago every time James Harrison discusses it. But we will only ever hear his side, because Mike Tomlin is never going to share his. Harrison believes Tomlin and the Steelers strung him along, and that’s the story most of us accept.
