The steepest of your 4 fines the previous Steelers linebacker James Harrison incurred in 2010 stemmed from a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit he sent on Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, knocking him out which has a concussion. The hit went with out penalty on the sector, even so the N.F.L., intent on meting out stiffer discipline for violations of participant security, docked Harrison $75,000 — at least many of which, Harrison claimed with a podcast Thursday, was offset by his coach, Mike Tomlin.
Harrison, showing up on Barstool Sporting activities’s “Heading Deep” podcast, told his previous Pittsburgh teammate Willie Colon that Tomlin — who continue to coaches the Steelers — slipped him an envelope before long following the fantastic was levied.
“Dude, I’m telling you — seventy five,” Harrison stated, referencing the quantity of the great. “And that i ain’t gonna lie to you: When that transpired, correct, 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 following that.”
Harrison recounted the Tale unprompted, after Colon questioned him in regards to the heftiest good he absorbed throughout his 15 N.File.L. seasons.
“Hear, on every little thing I love, on my daddy’s grave, I hit that gentleman with about max 50 p.c of what I'd,” Harrison claimed of Massaquoi. “And that i just strike him for the reason that I desired him to Permit free in the ball. If I had knew they was gonna fantastic me $75,000, I might have tried to get rid of him.”
Harrison’s wonderful was afterwards lowered to $50,000. While Harrison didn't explicitly say exactly what the envelope contained, the mere insinuation that Tomlin compensated him in any way evoked comparison into the so-named Bountygate scandal, through which The brand new Orleans Saints’ coaching employees was firm above A 3-12 months period to obtain supplied payouts to defensive players who wounded opponents, Based on a league investigation. The Saints’ coach, Sean Payton, did not shell out gamers himself, even so the league suspended him to get a yr, partially, for not stopping the technique right after he was designed conscious of it.
It is actually unclear whether or not the league will discuss the issue with Harrison and Tomlin; a spokesman for your N.File.L. declined to touch upon Friday. League principles stipulate that groups and its members are prohibited from having to pay a player’s high-quality.
In an announcement, Steelers President Artwork Rooney II stated he was constructive that Harrison’s allegations are untrue. “I'm incredibly selected practically nothing like this ever occurred,” Rooney reported. “I do not know why James would come up with a remark such as this, but there is simply just no foundation for believing something similar to this.”
Harrison on Friday posted an announcement to his Instagram account that seemingly walked back again his earlier comment. “Mike T. Has NEVER paid out me for hurting somebody or Endeavoring to harm another person or put a bounty on Anyone!” it browse.
Harrison, together with the Hall of Fame basic safety Troy Polamalu, was the snarling facial area on the Steelers’ protection in the 2000s, every time they gained two Tremendous Bowls. The league’s defensive participant in the 12 months in 2008, Harrison formulated a reputation for administering violent hits that teetered to the boundaries of legality. Following the hit on Massaquoi in 2010, Harrison and Tomlin argued that it had been clean and didn’t advantage a great. Tomlin, at time, also said he favored tougher penalties and rule improvements to enhance player basic safety.
A member of your N.F.L.’s Level of competition committee, Payton, plus the Saints’ Corporation, have had a combative relationship While using the league because Bountygate, and it's only deepened, after the egregious non-call that possible denied New Orleans a brilliant Bowl berth pursuing the 2018 season. All through a radio job interview on Thursday, Payton all but challenged N.File.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell to investigate the Steelers, saying he could well be “stunned” Should the league did and that people “shouldn’t hold their breath” watching for it to do so.
“I feel what passed off with us again in 2011 in so many ways was a sham, and nevertheless there wasn’t a great deal we could do with it,” Payton claimed on a hundred and five.seven FM in Baltimore. “The gamers ended up vindicated, but from the league or coaching standpoint, there is not any union, there isn't a representation.”
He included, “That’ll be something that’s tucked away where to buy cheap authentic jerseys or underneath the rug at Park Avenue. They’ll take a look at it briefly. Pay attention, don’t get me begun on that. I lost $6 million in income, and honestly it had been something that I’ll never ever truly recover from due to the fact I understand how it was dealt with And just how it had been run and the reasons guiding it. That’s just the truth.”