I agree with everything you said, so why string him along for 13 games if that's how they felt? If they thought he was washed up and old and didn't plan on playing him, just cut him loose the moment they decided to not even dress him. That's where it doesn't make sense to me. It seems like it should've been if they wanted to keep him then rotate him in situationally OR just cut him loose. Not do what they ended up doing. It was the absolute worst outcome for both sides.
Also with very few kickoffs actually being returned nowadays, it's far more important to have capable LBs playing on defense than worrying about taking up 2 hats for special teams. It's cool giving up 3rd and longs and 8 yards per running play but damnit Moats made some great special teams tackles so we can't replace him on D.
Sixteen games in a season. You don't know how well Watt is going to hold up during his Rookie season. Unchartered water there. You do know that Dupree is playing through several injuries. Harrison's contract became fully guaranteed the first, what, game or two when he had a hat? So, given all of that, do you cut Harrison and possibly have to take another cap hit (albeit a small one) if something happens to any of the OLB above him or do you keep him around for insurance even if you think he's slipped some? A business decision, especially one where money is involved should, at its purest level, be made devoid of emotion or sentimentality. A football decision should be made with regards to what's best for the team, not necessarily the player. In both regards, Tomlin/Colbert/Rooney made the best decision when they kept Harrison on the team initially. In both regards, they ****** up when they let him go. (Still needed the insurance and releasing him allowed the *Cheats to pick up a piece of their own puzzle). They should have just suspended him.
As for the Moats comments. One thing that Moats brings to the table that Harrison apparently was lacking during that time is leadership and being a good teammate. Moreover, let me say this again, you give Harrison a hat, after any of the **** he was pulling, let alone all of it, and you lose the team. Personally, the math doesn't add up for me. Bring in an aging, slow LB who can't cover anyone, a sack specialist, who is verging on being a cancer and have to have two guys give up their hats.
Finally, Harrison and setting the edge. The guy I saw in the SB wasn't setting the edge so swell. He was getting carried along in the wash and one good play in run support doesn't change that. It's possible that he just slowed down, back to his normal level of play after the excitement of being on a new team, a SB contender in it's own right, wore off. In any event, James looked only a shadow of the "Deebo" that it seems some folks thought should be starting, let alone playing, for the Steelers.
We're all entitled to our opinions. I don't "hate" the guy. It's just, in my opinion, he was a sliding ex-superstar who wasn't worth all the **** he created at that point in time.
