A question about the Harrison release

IF James Harrison would have produced at a higher level and not been injured and all that these last couple of years his contract would still have cost what it cost right? So IF he had produced and been a game changer like he used to be do you think the Steelers would still have released him to get back some of the money or do you think someone else would have taken the ax and if so who? I think as fans we are much more sad to see him go than them because they were actually paying him. But ask yourself this question. If it were YOUR money he was taking to put up just a FEW more sacks than a guy that's making near league minimum would YOU be as sentimental? Probably not. I just wanted to get your guys input on this. They were just in a bad position with giving him all this money when he was already pretty old by the time he got the contract to start with right?

 

Yes, he would have stayed if he had maintained a high level of play. There may have been a "mild?" restructuring. His release would have been more surprising than it is now. Colon would have been up the road. Some of the lesser luminaries would not have been tendered anyway.

 

I don't know how "surprising" his release was. I think we all saw it coming. JH even himself said he didn't anticipate being back.

We seem to get rid of our OLB studs at the right time (Lloyd, Greene, Gildon, Porter, Haggans, Chad Brown, etc). Only Porter seemed to really find success after us but it was only for one season and then his production declined drastically.

And Chad Brown went to a couple of Pro Bowls with Seattle but I think he was mainly living off of the reputation he built for himself in Pittsburgh. He had good numbers in Seattle, but not great.

The most important thing is that we've never really sent anyone packing that we didn't replace them with equal or greater production immediately.

 

I hated to see us release him, but it was the right business decision. I think anytime you have a 35 year old LB who's had serious knee AND back injuries and declining production with a $6.5 million cap hit, that's a no-brainier. The Steelers are one of the smartest organizations in football and as an old Kenny Rogers' ballad says, they "know when to hold them, and know when to fold them".

 

Yeah, that's what I meant, Shine. If he was as good last year as he was when he was DPOY, THEN his release would be surprising. Otherwise, I agree; but I hope they have someone 'with equal or greater production' up their sleeve.

 

So most of you think Colon would take the fall so to speak? Also Shiner I would say Kevin Green did pretty good elsewhere. I mean he's been a finalist for the Hall of Fame a few times but he was awesome here. Probably my favorite Steeler of the 90s on defense for sure.