The steepest from the 4 fines the former Steelers linebacker James Harrison incurred in 2010 stemmed from the vicious helmet-to-helmet hit he delivered on Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, knocking him out by using a concussion. The strike went without the need of penalty on the field, though the N.F.L., intent on meting out stiffer discipline for violations of player basic safety, docked Harrison $75,000 — at the very least several of which, Harrison claimed on the podcast Thursday, was offset by his mentor, Mike Tomlin.
Harrison, showing up on Barstool Sports’s “Heading Deep” podcast, advised his previous Pittsburgh teammate Willie Colon that Tomlin — who nonetheless coaches the Steelers — slipped him an envelope soon once the great was levied.
“Dude, I’m telling you — seventy five,” Harrison claimed, referencing the level of the good. “And I ain’t gonna lie for you: When that occurred, proper, the G-est detail Mike Tomlin at any time did, he handed me an envelope following that. I ain’t gonna say what, but he handed me an envelope after that.”
Harrison recounted the story unprompted, immediately after Colon questioned him with regards to the heftiest fine he absorbed across his 15 N.File.L. seasons.
“Listen, on all the things I like, on my daddy’s grave, I strike that person with about max fifty percent of what I had,” Harrison claimed of Massaquoi. “And I just strike him simply because I required him to Enable loose from the ball. If I had knew they was gonna high-quality me $seventy five,000, I would have made an effort to eliminate him.”
Harrison’s great was later on lowered to $50,000. Though Harrison didn't explicitly say just what the envelope contained, the mere insinuation that Tomlin compensated him in almost any way evoked comparison into the so-termed Bountygate scandal, by which The brand new Orleans Saints’ coaching staff members was firm around a three-calendar year time period to have presented payouts to defensive gamers who wounded opponents, In line with a league investigation. The Saints’ coach, Sean Payton, didn't pay out players himself, even so the league suspended him for a 12 months, in part, for not stopping the technique following he was designed aware of it.
It really is unclear whether the league will examine the issue with Harrison and Tomlin; a spokesman for the N.File.L. declined to comment on Friday. League principles stipulate that groups and its members are prohibited from paying out a player’s fantastic.
In an announcement, Steelers President Artwork Rooney II explained he was good that Harrison’s allegations are untrue. “I am very particular nothing like this at any time happened,” Rooney stated. “I have no idea why James would produce a comment such as this, but there's simply no basis for believing anything similar to this.”
Harrison on Friday posted a press release to his Instagram account that seemingly walked back again his before comment. “Mike T. Has not compensated me for hurting an individual or TRYING to damage a person or set a bounty on ANYBODY!” it study.
Harrison, combined with the Corridor of Fame basic safety Troy Polamalu, was the snarling face on the Steelers’ defense inside the 2000s, when they gained two Tremendous Bowls. The league’s defensive participant in the calendar year in 2008, Harrison developed a standing for administering violent hits that teetered over the boundaries of legality. Following the hit on Massaquoi in 2010, Harrison and Tomlin argued that it was thoroughly clean and didn’t benefit a high-quality. Tomlin, at time, also reported he favored more durable penalties and rule adjustments to enhance participant protection.
A member of the N.F.L.’s competition committee, Payton, and the Saints’ organization, have had a combative romantic relationship Along with the league considering the fact that Bountygate, and it's only deepened, after the egregious non-simply call that very likely denied New Orleans an excellent Bowl berth next the 2018 season. During a radio job interview on Thursday, Payton all but challenged N.File.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell to analyze the Steelers, stating he could be “shocked” If your league did and that men and women “shouldn’t maintain their breath” expecting it to do so.
“I do think what took place with us back in 2011 in so numerous ways was a sham, and still there wasn’t a great deal we could do with it,” Payton stated on one zero five.7 FM in Baltimore. “The players ended up vindicated, but from the league or coaching standpoint, there isn't any union, there is no illustration.”
He extra, “That’ll be something that’s tucked absent or underneath the rug at Park Avenue. http://myfolio.com/l9hwljq461 They’ll look into it briefly. Pay attention, don’t get me started off on that. I shed $six million in wage, and honestly it had been a thing that I’ll never genuinely get over since I understand how it had been taken care of And exactly how it was run and The explanations driving it. That’s just the truth.”