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If you’re waking on Friday morning and seeing headlines about James Harrison and the Pittsburgh Steelers, no, you haven’t stepped in a time machine back to 2010.
But in a way, Harrison did.
The legendary ex-Steelers linebacker made some comments about a controversial play that got him fined by the NFL a decade ago, but he added a new twist that shed a whole new light on an alleged interaction he had with head coach Mike Tomlin at the time.
Here’s everything you need to know:
What’s this now about Harrison?
While appearing on the Going Deep podcast, he looked back on a huge helmet-to-helmet hit on Cleveland Browns wideout Mohamed Massaquoi in 2010 and talked about receiving something from Tomlin (as transcribed by the Akron Beacon Journal) before he was fined $75,000:
“Dude, I’m telling you — $75,000? And I ain’t gonna lie to you. I ain’t gonna lie to you. When that happened, right? And the G-est thing Mike Tomlin ever did, he handed me an envelope after that. I ain’t gonna say what, but he handed me an envelope after that.”
ex #Steelers LB James Harrison said head coach Mike Tomlin "handed me an envelope", here's the play.
The fine was for $75,000. pic.twitter.com/FkFPB0e63X
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 14, 2020
What does THAT mean?
Seems like everyone thinks that it means that envelope was full of cash, perhaps to pay for that impending fine.
Um, is that something okay to do?
Given the fallout from “Bountygate” — in which the NFL investigated the New Orleans Saints in 2012 for giving players cash for plays including if they injured opponents, a system that ran from 2009 to 2011 — I’d say it’s a big no.
And funny you should ask about that: Saints head coach Sean Payton — who was suspended for the entire 2012 season — shared his comments about Harrison’s story on Thursday while appearing on 105.7 The Fan (hat tip to Saints Wire for transcribing):
“If people are waiting for the league to investigate that, they shouldn’t hold their breath. I think what took place with us back in (2012) in so many ways was a sham, and yet there wasn’t a lot we could do with it.” …
“I would be shocked (if the league investigates Pittsburgh). That’ll be something that’s tucked away under the rug (in the NFL league offices) at Park Avenue. They’ll look into it briefly.
“Listen, don’t get me started on that. I lost $6 million in salary, and honestly it was something that I’ll never truly get over because I know how it was handled and how it was run and the reasons behind it. That’s just the truth.”
Did the Steelers have anything to say about all this?
Yep. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review received a statement from team president Art Rooney II:
“I am certain nothing like this ever happened,” Rooney II said. “I have no idea why James would make a comment like this, but there is simply no basis for believing anything like this.”
Harrison’s agent Bill Parise denied it as well:
“Absolutely not. Never happened,” Bill Parise told the Tribune-Review on Thursday. “I would have known that. It didn’t happen.”
So what’s next here?
Nothing we know about so far. An NFL spokesperson declined to comment when the Beacon Journal reached out. But this may not be the end we hear about this given how deeply the league investigated what the Saints did.
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