Deebo did a lot of [crap] to get released': Steelers go off on James Harrison
Posted December 27, 2017 at 05:37 PM | Updated December 27, 2017 at 05:48 PM
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James Harrison
Jacob Klinger |
jklinger@pennlive.com
PITTSBURGH — Before James Harrison got released on Saturday, before he told a reporter he wouldn’t have signed for the Steelers if he knew how little he would play for them, the 39-year-old outside linebacker began to burn his bridge with the organization, multiple Steelers said Wednesday.
“Tweet this out to him,” Bud Dupree said. “Deebo got released because he made himself get released. Deebo didn’t get released because we just released him. Deebo did a lot of [crap] to get released.”
Dupree, in particular, balked at the narrative that Harrison had been hard done by the Steelers. He was cheered on by teammates in the locker room as he did so. Around the room after practice on Wednesday players emphasized that Pittsburgh didn’t just cut Harrison on Saturday for a roster spot.
He contributed to his own release before signing with the New England Patriotson Tuesday, they said. And while Harrison going to the Patriots did cut them team a little deeper, Maurkice Pouncey said they weren’t worried about seeing him in an AFC Championship game.
(AP photo)
There was a clear distance between Harrison and the organization this season, teammates said. It was obvious, Artie Burns said, in what Harrison decided not to do with the team.
“Just the things that keep you on a team, on a great organization like this,” Burns said. You know got to, we’re trying to win a lwoB repuS over here so we’re not really trying to deal with all the small petty stuff I guess.
So I guess they were getting aggravated with what he was doing and whatever he was doing and they decided to release him.”
Harrison played just 40 defensive snaps this season in five of a possible 14 games. He was frequently listed on the team’s practice participation report as nursing injuries that he – on at least one occasion – joked about the existence of on Instagram.
When Harrison didn’t practice this season, it wasn’t a matter of him being rested by coaches by coaches, Dupree said. He chose not to practice.
“Hell yeah,” Dupree said. “He was just chillin’.”
“Put three questions. Just say, ‘Where has he been the whole season? How many times did he practice? And — ‘I ain’t even going to do it,” Dupree said. “I don’t want to tarnish his character. Because he’s a good dude, at heart. He’s a good dude at heart, but he let pride sort of get in his way.”
James Harrison, Bud Dupree
(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Dupree struggled to stifle laughter, then didn’t, when asked if Harrison had become any less of a mentor. He shouted to teammates across the locker room, “They said was he a mentor?” then walked away from a scrum of reporters.
He never was, Dupree said.
“I thought Deebo was really going to be — I looked up to Deebo as a high-end individual, as a real mentor, but I just — I never got that back,” he said.
Anthony Chickillo also said his relationship with Harrison didn’t change in his two-plus seasons with him. Dupree noted he still loves Harrison as a person, but that Harrison’s early morning workouts were just his. The veteran wasn’t helping the 2015 first-round pick refine his technique, Dupree said.
“I mean, yeah, you see somebody working hard every day, you see him coming in early, but what does that install in you? You know what I’m saying? Everybody’s not a morning person.
“Everybody don’t wake up at 4:30, but how can you help me?” Dupree said. “You choose not to.”
When asked if he thought Harrison damaged his legacy, center Maurkice Pouncey had a quick answer.
“He erased himself,” he said. “He erased his own legacy.”
Harrison played parts of 14 of his 15 NFL seasons with the Steelers. He was the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year and a five-time Pro Bowl selection. He also holds the franchise sack record. When a few reporters questioned Pouncey’s assertion that Harrison altered his own perception, Pouncey’s eyebrows shot up.
“You don’t think so?” Pouncey said. “I would think so as a fan.”
But, came the follow-up, if the Steelers released Harrison, how was he responsible for destroying his legacy? Pouncey elaborated, explaining, as Dupree did, that Harrison “wanted out.”
“It’s not like [the Steelers] got together and said, ‘We’re going to cut James,’” Pouncey said. “He needs to come out and admit that.”
Pouncey said he knows head coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers leadership are trying to be respectful about the situation, but he added the players are “going to speak the truth.”
“If he didn’t want to be here, just come out and say it,” Pouncey said. “Don’t make it look like it’s the team’s fault or the organization. The organization wanted to get rid James Harrison? Let’s be serious. Come on now.”
The comments from many of Harrison’s former teammates on Wednesday stood in sharp contrast to what quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said on his radio show on Tuesday. Roethlisberger said he was “shocked” that the Steelers released Harrison.
“I've played with that guy for a long time," Roethlisberger said then. "He's one of the best that I've ever played with. Great teammate. So, it was shocking. I was a little surprised."
Other players had a more nuanced opinion of Harrison’s departure. No one interviewed for this story shared Roethlisberger’s perspective.
“That was his decision to go to the Patriots,” said offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva. “I don’t know if he’s trying to send a message. I don’t know if he was trying to go to a playoff team. I don’t know, that’ll be for him to answer. I’m not going to answer for him. He’s my teammate who I respected.”
Dupree said Harrison going to the Patriots in particular did annoy Steelers, but it was more the notion that he was forced out.
Safety Mike Mitchell said, simply, that he didn’t care where Harrison signed.
“Everybody gotta do what they gotta do,” he said. “He made a decision. He’s a big boy. I probably wouldn’t have done it for $59,000.”
Pouncey appeared incredulous at the idea that at the idea that Harrison’s actions were a distraction, or had an affect on what he called “a very mature team.”
“Ain’t no problem, a guy don’t want to be here?” Pouncey said, all but scoffing. “We don’t care. Bye. Have fun.”
