Steelers Waive Veteran OLB James Harrison

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced Saturday that they’ve waived veteran OLB James Harrison.

  • Mike Garafolo points out that any team claiming Harrison would him $70,000 for one week.
  • Ian Rapoport mentions that Harrison is the least likely player to be claimed off of waivers and it’s possible he could return to the Steelers on Monday.
  • Harrison’s agent, William Parise, tells Josina Anderson: “There was no animosity or bad feelings. It’s just the business of the NFL. I believe he still wants to play. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with waivers.

A few weeks ago, Harrison mentioned that had he known how little he was going to play this season, he “would have signed somewhere else” other than Pittsburgh.

So far this season, Harrison has been limited to appeared in just five games and has been inactive for six and DNP for two more.

Rookie OLB T.J. Watt replaced Harrison in the Steelers’ starting lineup and has been good enough to keep the job.

Harrison, 39, originally signed on with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent out of Kent State back in 2002. He had a brief stint with the Ravens but returned to the Steelers in 2004 and eventually secured a long-term extension from the team.

Pittsburgh, unfortunately, released him in 2013 and Harrison spent a year with the Bengals before returning to the Steelers at the start of the 2014 season. The Steelers re-signed him to a two-year, $3.5 million contract that included $500,000 guarantee this past March.

Harrison stands to make a base salary of $1.3 million for the 2018 season.

In 2017, Harrison has appeared in five games and recorded three tackles and one sack for the Steelers.

Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?

Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!

Leave a Reply