JH drawing little interest on the market so far

I appreciate everything Harrison did for us, but there is just something unseemly about it. Why is he making such a push to play for the Rats? Why not the Eagles, or the Texans, or the Bills, or the Seahawks. I believe his motivation at this point is to stick the knife in to the Steelers FO, ownership and management and then twist it. he has pursued them harder than a shark pursues a bleeding seal! This is another "agree to disagree" item I guess. Many fans feel like you do but I would dare say that many fans are like me and will view JH with a little less admiration if he chooses to do this.

One last question and I think I asked this before so I'd appreciate your forbearance. What if he does sign with the Ravens for an amount equal to or less than what the Steelers were offering him to stay? How would you feel about his full court press on the Rats then???

 

You'd cheer for him to slam Ben with a blind side strip sack if he's wearing the putrid purple of the Ratturds???

 

Come on now. Don't be silly. I just watched 92 get nowhere near the opposing quarterback for a full season this year. 92 is going to be watching from the sidelines wherever he suits up next.

 

Hey, you said you'd be cheering for him but thanks for the clarification.

 

Well, it just seems that JH (by the way, JH's agent is an extension of JH) zeroed in on our most bitter rival almost the minute he refused the Steelers' offer. As for me taking a paycut if asked by my boss I would have to say it depends on the circumstances. If I was working for an organization that was having financial difficulties and they were asking employees en masse to take less money I would have to consider the option. If I were able to maintain my benefits and what I was being offered was probably about the same or maybe slightly more than I could get by going to work for a competitor, I think I'd stay. I am very much a loyalist at heart and have worked for a grand total of two companies the last 27 years. I have also had opportunities to jump ship for higher salaries and decided to stay put because when you take everything into consideration I felt I was better off staying. I guess the real question would be fairness and equity and I feel the Steelers offer to Harrison was fair and equitable and it seems he's finding that out on the open market.

BUT...you still haven't really answered this very simple question. How would you feel about JH if he were to sign with the Rats for the same or a lesser amount than the Steelers offered?

 

Joey said that AFTER he joined the Dolphins.

People forget the he was about this far | | from playing for the Bengals. It was down to them and the Phins and he chose the fins.

 

He's been posting stuff like that for years. I thought it was just a PR job to repair the damaged image he had, but over the years Im buying it. Ive seen him after numerous games spending more time than the rest signing autographs and interacting with the fans. We were tailgating right next to the players lot one game last year and everyone was driving past us to get in. James actually stopped and talked with 3 kids who were throwing the ball around. One guy with us yelled over "James!" to which he looked up, smiled and gave a big wave. I really am buying that he's a decent guy who likes to interact with the fans. I could be wrong though, but Ive seen numerous players in with limo tint windows pull in and not so much as slow down and blow the horn at anyone who could be in their way.

 

He's constantly posting that stuff, and like you've said it's been over the years, so I don't take it as advertising. Him and Ike are the most vocal about improving year in year out. I really think minus the late training camp surgery (He'd have done it right after the season) He'd have been a lot better early on in the season.

 

Leaving the Steelers for the Ravens? Lack of loyalty shown; memories partially tarnished.

It's like your girlfriend leaving you for your best friend, or worst enemy, or boss, or something.

Signing with the Ravens after being cut by the Steelers? Uh... what right do I have to complain about that again? Loyalty is not a factor here. He should sign wherever he feels is the best situation for him. He has said his kind words about the team, city, and fans. Now let him do what he wants.

It's like dumping your girlfriend, your girlfriend saying, "Well, that was a great relationship, I really liked it a lot, and it's too bad we couldn't make it work. Good luck." ...And then getting pissed about who she goes out with afterwards.

Do I want him to go to the Ravens? Dear God no. That would hurt my eyes, and it could hurt our quarterback twice a year. But I'm really having a hard time understanding those that are saying he shouldn't, or it would be somehow disrespectful. If you dump your girlfriend, you don't want her to go out with your brother, but if he's offering her more than you were, you barely even have the right to be upset, let alone accuse her of doing something wrong.

 

Who cares where he signs? He should go wherever he can get paid what he feels he is worth. And at this point, it seems that he is finding out that his personal feeling of his worth to an NFL team is over inflated. At the end of the day, James WILL be taking a pay cut if he wants to get paid at all and play. The problem that HE created for himself is that now it is going to involve starting over, learning a new system, playbook, teammates, etc. He is going to have to prove himself and earn playing time. It would have been much easier for him to take the pay cut and stay here. Instead he chose the more difficult path. Which really is no surprise as he has a long history of making things harder for himself than they need to be. Wherever JH ends up, I dont believe he will be a factor. We hold on to players too long and pay them too much when they arent able to contribute at the level they are getting paid and have a history of doing so. The majority of the aging heroes that get cut from the Steelers rarely do much of anything after they get cut from here. There have been very few exceptions and dont expect JH to be one of those exceptions.

 

Why such a big discussion if you all think he should have been gone?
We rolled the dice, and will have to live with it.Just a quick question again,
Are you all happy with who the Steelers have replaced these players with?
Could we have done better under our salary cap restraints? If your a true blue
Steeler fan, you better hope there are some home runs hit in this draft.

 

A) I think James is the one who rolled the dice here.

and

B) How can we determine happiness regarding the replacement players when we haven't seen them in a full time role yet? They have potential, hopefully they reach it. If they do I think it will play out that the Steelers made the right decisions.

and

C) Related to B, how can we determine if the Steelers could have done better under the cap restraints when we haven't seen the results yet? What if Worilds, who has shown flashes of being very good, flourishes in a full time role? What if he grows into a force as a full time starter at a salary significantly less than the $6M that they would have had to pay Harrison? What if Cortez Allen, who has made some plays does the same at a fraction of the (more than) $5.2M they would have had to paid Lewis? What will you think then? My guess is that it will allow the Steelers to remain competitive yet again and allow you to continue to pledge allegiance to the Steelers as a great and well run organization.

Again this may or may not happen, but lets wait and see first. I trust the Steelers FO to make these decisions. Despite what some might think, they're not a bunch of bumbling foolish idiots who don't know what they are doing. Quite conversely they know a hell of a lot more than anyone and everyone posting here. We only have access to what we see on the broadcast of games. These guys have that, plus the coaches film, plus they know them personally, know their attitudes, their strengths and weaknesses, their upside, downside, and MOST importantly how they fit into their system of what they do and what they want to do.

So from the outside Keenan Lewis leaving without an offer may seem like a disaster to you, it just might be perfectly okay with them because they have a vast amount more knowledge and insight than you do and may it actually turn out to be the right move.

 

The whole Keenan Lewis thing happened very quickly - he was an under-performing to average CB last off-season; he had a solid (but not spectacular) season; then this board seemed to declare him the saviour of our defense; then he went. From nothing to everything to nothing again.

My worry with his departure is simply where it leaves us with depth. Rod Woodson he was not.

 

you have to look at the big picture.. you cant just tell wallaces unimpressive stats.. you have to look at how he stretched the D and made all the othere receivers better and more open on shotrer routes.. you are a smart guy tomlin.. and you know thats half of his worth was the way he stretched the field and was sometimes double covered deep to let someone else open or under covered.. right?
HINES

 

TE, I'm going to give you one more opportunity to answer the question I posed...jk

So you think I'm in the minority when I say that, as a fan and in my eyes, JH's legacy will be tarnished somewhat if he signs with the Ravens for essentially what the Steelers were offering? I don't necessarily think I am in the minority here, especially after he engaged in hot pursuit THE MINUTE he was released by the Steelers. Maybe we should put a poll up with that question.

 

But he still will be 35 and that is something that you can train all you want,35 is 35. different scheme new surroundings, he will sac himself.

 

It's like when your car gets old and your putting more money into it that it giving you in miles, sometimes as much as you may have liked the car you have to stop the bleeding of cash infusions. Goodbye old Silverback Cadillac!

 

If JH does go somewhere, his style of play would certainly fit the Ratbirds.

 

no doubt that it leaves them thin at CB, but that's what the Willie Gay signing was for.
Now the trio of Ike, Lewis, and Allen is better than the trio of Ike, Allen, and Gay but in the salary cap era you simply can't keep everyone. You have to make the tough decisions and measure everything against cap cost. Obviously the Steelers think that the Ike, Allen, Gay trio is better relative to cost than keeping Lewis in the mix.

I trust that they've done their homework and made that move (or lack of in Lewis' case) with the franchises best interest in mind. Also keep in mind that player contracts do not happen in a vacuum. I'm sure decisions this year are made with the future in mind and the fact that they've got some guys coming up next year that they want to keep (Pouncey).

 

Harrison is a 10 year pro who has worked for a grand total of two NFL teams: Pittsburgh and... Baltimore.

I don't want Harrison playing for them, but I imagine he respects their defensive philosophy, since they have tried to imitate the Steeler mind-set.

 

Maybe the Steelers don't even want 92. How do we know what the Steelers actually offered? They are, after all, the same peeps who told us Bruce Arians had "retired."