The steepest in the four fines the former Steelers linebacker James Harrison incurred in 2010 stemmed from a vicious helmet-to-helmet strike he sent on Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, knocking him out that has a concussion. The hit went with no penalty on the sphere, nevertheless the N.File.L., intent on meting out stiffer willpower for violations of participant basic safety, docked Harrison $seventy five,000 — at the least a number of which, Harrison claimed on the podcast Thursday, was offset by his mentor, Mike Tomlin.
Harrison, appearing on Barstool Sports’s “Likely Deep” podcast, explained to his former Pittsburgh teammate Willie Colon that Tomlin — who even now coaches the Steelers — slipped him an envelope before long once the wonderful was levied.
“Dude, I’m telling you — 75,” Harrison claimed, referencing the level of the good. “And I ain’t gonna lie for you: When that happened, right, the G-est point 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 Tale unprompted, after Colon requested him in regards to the heftiest good he absorbed across his 15 N.File.L. seasons.
“Hear, on almost everything I like, on my daddy’s grave, I hit that person with about max fifty % of what I had,” Harrison mentioned of Massaquoi. “And that i just strike him due to the fact I preferred him to Enable free from the ball. If I'd knew they was gonna wonderful me $75,000, I might have made an effort to destroy him.”
Harrison’s wonderful was afterwards lowered to $50,000. Whilst Harrison did not explicitly say what the envelope contained, the mere insinuation that Tomlin compensated him in almost any way evoked comparison on the so-termed Bountygate scandal, in which The brand new Orleans Saints’ coaching workers was firm about a three-yr period to acquire presented payouts to defensive players who wounded opponents, according to a league investigation. The Saints’ coach, Sean Payton, didn't shell out players himself, but the league suspended him for a 12 months, partially, for not stopping the procedure right after he was produced mindful of it.
It really is unclear if the league will examine the make a difference with Harrison and Tomlin; a spokesman for the N.File.L. declined to comment on Friday. League regulations stipulate that groups and its users are prohibited from paying a player’s high-quality.
In a press release, Steelers President Art Rooney II said he was constructive that Harrison’s allegations are untrue. “I am incredibly specified almost nothing like this ever happened,” Rooney claimed. “I have no idea why James would come up with a remark similar to this, but there's simply just no basis for believing everything like this.”
Harrison on Friday posted a press release to his Instagram account that seemingly walked again his previously remark. “Mike T. Has not paid out me for hurting an individual or Attempting to harm someone or place a bounty on ANYBODY!” it study.
Harrison, along with the Corridor of Fame protection Troy Polamalu, was the snarling deal with on the Steelers’ protection from the 2000s, every time they won two Super Bowls. The league’s defensive player on the 12 months in 2008, Harrison made a status for administering violent hits that teetered over the boundaries of legality. After the hit on Massaquoi in 2010, Harrison and Tomlin argued that it absolutely was clean up and didn’t advantage a fine. Tomlin, at the time, also mentioned he favored tougher penalties and rule alterations to improve participant security.
A member with the N.F.L.’s Competitiveness committee, Payton, plus the Saints’ organization, have experienced a combative connection with the league since Bountygate, and it has only deepened, following the egregious non-simply call that most likely denied New Orleans an excellent Bowl berth pursuing the 2018 period. All through a radio job interview on Thursday, Payton all but challenged N.File.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell to investigate the Steelers, declaring he will be “stunned” If your league did and that people “shouldn’t maintain their breath” waiting for it to do so.
“I believe what passed off with us back in 2011 in so some ways was a sham, and still cheap jerseys for sale there wasn’t a whole lot we could do with it,” Payton explained on one hundred and five.seven FM in Baltimore. “The gamers have been vindicated, but from a league or coaching standpoint, there is no union, there isn't a illustration.”
He included, “That’ll be something which’s tucked away or beneath the rug at Park Avenue. They’ll explore it briefly. Pay attention, don’t get me began on that. I lost $six million in wage, and Actually it was something that I’ll by no means definitely recover from mainly because I know the way it absolutely was taken care of And the way it was run and the reasons at the rear of it. That’s just the truth.”