Harrison's agent: Talks with Steelers 'not close'

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Trade Harrison for a first round pick.......

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

I think that the article here doesn't paint an accurate picture of the situation. From another article posted recently, the biggest issue is figuring out how to structure the contract as rules could change if there is an uncapped year next year. There are rules concerning salary escalation etc. that must be addressed. The process is early and this can get done.

[flippy]

Harrison would struggle elsewhere.

He's a system player - as good as he is in our system.

He's not a fast learner either.

He's struggled to learn our system. He's even admitted he's still got to learn the whole defense.

It'd take him 2 years to contribute somewhere else at least.

And he's not getting younger.

And he's not gonna win another team over with his personality.

He'll sign for what we offer.

Or Timmons can take his slot and break his sack record.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Harrison would struggle elsewhere.

He's a system player - as good as he is in our system.

He's not a fast learner either.

He's struggled to learn our system. He's even admitted he's still got to learn the whole defense.

It'd take him 2 years to contribute somewhere else at least.

And he's not getting younger.

And he's not gonna win another team over with his personality.

He'll sign for what we offer.

Or Timmons can take his slot and break his sack record.

Considering that Harrison was a demi-god here a few short weeks ago, it is surprising to see someone suddenly minimizing his accomplishments and assuming that Timmons (a part time ILB so far in his pro career) is going to go ahead and just break the sack record that stood since the mid 80's (Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Jason Gildon, Joey Porter, etc. could not touch Meriweather's 15 sack season it in their careers here). Yikes.

[papillon]

Harrison would struggle elsewhere.

He's a system player - as good as he is in our system.

He's not a fast learner either.

He's struggled to learn our system. He's even admitted he's still got to learn the whole defense.

It'd take him 2 years to contribute somewhere else at least.

And he's not getting younger.

And he's not gonna win another team over with his personality.

He'll sign for what we offer.

Or Timmons can take his slot and break his sack record.

Considering that Harrison was a demi-god here a few short weeks ago, it is surprising to see someone suddenly minimizing his accomplishments and assuming that Timmons (a part time ILB so far in his pro career) is going to go ahead and just break the sack record that stood since the mid 80's (Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Jason Gildon, Joey Porter, etc. could not touch Meriweather's 15 sack season it in their careers here). Yikes.

No one, includeing me, believed that signing Harrison would become an issue this off season, it seemed to be fata compli. Now, based on the articles I've read, the deal isn't as definite as it once was. As has been mentioned, we all love JH's passion and style of play and would love for him to be a Steeler until he retires, the reality is that his contract could prohibit younger players that are developing nicely to not be extended.

Lets say JH can't get signed, Woodley was only 3.5 sacks behind him and Timmons could probably turn in Woodley like numbers playing full time. The Steelers really are in a good position.

If JH is asking too much, I'd let him play this year for the peanuts of his current contract and franchise him next year. The Steelers would have him until he's 34, how much could he have left at that point? He can walk and let someone else overpay him and we now have Woodley and Timmons two year more experienced and signed long term (hopefully).

Pappy

[RuthlessBurgher]

Harrison would struggle elsewhere.

He's a system player - as good as he is in our system.

He's not a fast learner either.

He's struggled to learn our system. He's even admitted he's still got to learn the whole defense.

It'd take him 2 years to contribute somewhere else at least.

And he's not getting younger.

And he's not gonna win another team over with his personality.

He'll sign for what we offer.

Or Timmons can take his slot and break his sack record.

Considering that Harrison was a demi-god here a few short weeks ago, it is surprising to see someone suddenly minimizing his accomplishments and assuming that Timmons (a part time ILB so far in his pro career) is going to go ahead and just break the sack record that stood since the mid 80's (Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Jason Gildon, Joey Porter, etc. could not touch Meriweather's 15 sack season it in their careers here). Yikes.

No one, includeing me, believed that signing Harrison would become an issue this off season, it seemed to be fata compli. Now, based on the articles I've read, the deal isn't as definite as it once was. As has been mentioned, we all love JH's passion and style of play and would love for him to be a Steeler until he retires, the reality is that his contract could prohibit younger players that are developing nicely to not be extended.

Lets say JH can't get signed, Woodley was only 3.5 sacks behind him and Timmons could probably turn in Woodley like numbers playing full time. The Steelers really are in a good position.

If JH is asking too much, I'd let him play this year for the peanuts of his current contract and franchise him next year. The Steelers would have him until he's 34, how much could he have left at that point? He can walk and let someone else overpay him and we now have Woodley and Timmons two year more experienced and signed long term (hopefully).

Pappy

That would be a shrewd business decision for sure, but it would be somewhat of a d!ck move by the Steelers, and this team does not operate that way. History has shown that we will pay full market value for our elite players in their prime (in spite of a reputation for being frugal, the reality is that we take care of our own handsomely...and especially the foundation guys), and Harrison is that right now. We will not overpay for guys that are over the hill, but with only 2 seasons of starting experience under his belt, Harrison is not there yet, in spite of what his numerical age might be. For a guy that was voted team MVP by his teammate 2 years in a row, was named NFL defensive player of the year this past season, has seemingly countless memorable "splash" plays in his personal highlight reel (including perhaps the greatest individual play in Super Bowl history), you don't screw this guy over by paying him another year of the peanut-salary he signed when he was Porter's backup, then only one year's worth of a salary commensurate with the top LB's in the league via the franchise tag. That would make the team look bad in the eyes of all the other players who realize that Harrison is one guy that truly deserves to get paid. The Steelers are a well-respected organization by pretty much everyone, but would Woodley and Timmons be so quick to re-sign here if they saw that we screwed over a beast like Harrison? This deal will get done. He has earned a payday and deserves whatever he gets.

[Oviedo]

Harrison would struggle elsewhere.

He's a system player - as good as he is in our system.

He's not a fast learner either.

He's struggled to learn our system. He's even admitted he's still got to learn the whole defense.

It'd take him 2 years to contribute somewhere else at least.

And he's not getting younger.

And he's not gonna win another team over with his personality.

He'll sign for what we offer.

Or Timmons can take his slot and break his sack record.

Considering that Harrison was a demi-god here a few short weeks ago, it is surprising to see someone suddenly minimizing his accomplishments and assuming that Timmons (a part time ILB so far in his pro career) is going to go ahead and just break the sack record that stood since the mid 80's (Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Jason Gildon, Joey Porter, etc. could not touch Meriweather's 15 sack season it in their careers here). Yikes.

No one, includeing me, believed that signing Harrison would become an issue this off season, it seemed to be fata compli. Now, based on the articles I've read, the deal isn't as definite as it once was. As has been mentioned, we all love JH's passion and style of play and would love for him to be a Steeler until he retires, the reality is that his contract could prohibit younger players that are developing nicely to not be extended.

Lets say JH can't get signed, Woodley was only 3.5 sacks behind him and Timmons could probably turn in Woodley like numbers playing full time. The Steelers really are in a good position.

If JH is asking too much, I'd let him play this year for the peanuts of his current contract and franchise him next year. The Steelers would have him until he's 34, how much could he have left at that point? He can walk and let someone else overpay him and we now have Woodley and Timmons two year more experienced and signed long term (hopefully).

Pappy

That would be a shrewd business decision for sure, but it would be somewhat of a d!ck move by the Steelers, and this team does not operate that way. History has shown that we will pay full market value for our elite players in their prime (in spite of a reputation for being frugal, the reality is that we take care of our own handsomely...and especially the foundation guys), and Harrison is that right now. We will not overpay for guys that are over the hill, but with only 2 seasons of starting experience under his belt, Harrison is not there yet, in spite of what his numerical age might be. For a guy that was voted team MVP by his teammate 2 years in a row, was named NFL defensive player of the year this past season, has seemingly countless memorable "splash" plays in his personal highlight reel (including perhaps the greatest individual play in Super Bowl history), you don't screw this guy over by paying him another year of the peanut-salary he signed when he was Porter's backup, then only one year's worth of a salary commensurate with the top LB's in the league via the franchise tag. That would make the team look bad in the eyes of all the other players who realize that Harrison is one guy that truly deserves to get paid. The Steelers are a well-respected organization by pretty much everyone, but would Woodley and Timmons be so quick to re-sign here if they saw that we screwed over a beast like Harrison? This deal will get done. He has earned a payday and deserves whatever he gets.

The Steelers will try to do the right thing for BOTH Harrison and the Steelers. THAT IS how they do business. It is equally incumbant on Harrison to do what is good for the team too. This nonsense about being underpaid in the past is just that. No one forced him to sign his last contract and he clearly became a millionaire by signing it.

The Steelers will guard themselves against getting locked into a Jason Gildon type deal where they overpay for a player who possibily to no ones fault has his play decline precipitously as he got older. Say what you want but Harrison is over 30 and by any metric that is when performance begins to decline. If I'm the Steelers thinking about total priorities I'm not sure I totally ignore that. The reality is that on defense Woodley and Timmons are probably both more importnat to long term success than Harrison.

[papillon]

Harrison would struggle elsewhere.

He's a system player - as good as he is in our system.

He's not a fast learner either.

He's struggled to learn our system. He's even admitted he's still got to learn the whole defense.

It'd take him 2 years to contribute somewhere else at least.

And he's not getting younger.

And he's not gonna win another team over with his personality.

He'll sign for what we offer.

Or Timmons can take his slot and break his sack record.

Considering that Harrison was a demi-god here a few short weeks ago, it is surprising to see someone suddenly minimizing his accomplishments and assuming that Timmons (a part time ILB so far in his pro career) is going to go ahead and just break the sack record that stood since the mid 80's (Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Jason Gildon, Joey Porter, etc. could not touch Meriweather's 15 sack season it in their careers here). Yikes.

No one, includeing me, believed that signing Harrison would become an issue this off season, it seemed to be fata compli. Now, based on the articles I've read, the deal isn't as definite as it once was. As has been mentioned, we all love JH's passion and style of play and would love for him to be a Steeler until he retires, the reality is that his contract could prohibit younger players that are developing nicely to not be extended.

Lets say JH can't get signed, Woodley was only 3.5 sacks behind him and Timmons could probably turn in Woodley like numbers playing full time. The Steelers really are in a good position.

If JH is asking too much, I'd let him play this year for the peanuts of his current contract and franchise him next year. The Steelers would have him until he's 34, how much could he have left at that point? He can walk and let someone else overpay him and we now have Woodley and Timmons two year more experienced and signed long term (hopefully).

Pappy

That would be a shrewd business decision for sure, but it would be somewhat of a d!ck move by the Steelers, and this team does not operate that way. History has shown that we will pay full market value for our elite players in their prime (in spite of a reputation for being frugal, the reality is that we take care of our own handsomely...and especially the foundation guys), and Harrison is that right now. We will not overpay for guys that are over the hill, but with only 2 seasons of starting experience under his belt, Harrison is not there yet, in spite of what his numerical age might be. For a guy that was voted team MVP by his teammate 2 years in a row, was named NFL defensive player of the year this past season, has seemingly countless memorable "splash" plays in his personal highlight reel (including perhaps the greatest individual play in Super Bowl history), you don't screw this guy over by paying him another year of the peanut-salary he signed when he was Porter's backup, then only one year's worth of a salary commensurate with the top LB's in the league via the franchise tag. That would make the team look bad in the eyes of all the other players who realize that Harrison is one guy that truly deserves to get paid. The Steelers are a well-respected organization by pretty much everyone, but would Woodley and Timmons be so quick to re-sign here if they saw that we screwed over a beast like Harrison? This deal will get done. He has earned a payday and deserves whatever he gets.

It would be a shrewd business move to be sure and one that Harrison would not enjoy, I'm sure. But, if he's going to hold them over the barrel for too much money and cause issues with younger players contract extensions, etc., they will have to do it, regardless, of what others think.

You are correct the Steelers pay their foundation players handsomely and I'm certain the first offer by the Steelers was a substantial increase for Harrison. I would hate to see him overplay his hand, he knows the Steelers will pay him, he also should know that they won't jeopardize the future either.

Pappy

[feltdizz]

This could be a problem...

He deserves to get paid... but with a SB in hand we could really screw him over...
but we paid FWP after the fact as well... so I think we make him the highest paid player on D... he has a good 4 years left in him so sign him to five years.

Dude is a beast.. no way we let him go.

[papillon]

This could be a problem...

He deserves to get paid... but with a SB in hand we could really screw him over...
but we paid FWP after the fact as well... so I think we make him the highest paid player on D... he has a good 4 years left in him so sign him to five years.

Dude is a beast.. no way we let him go.

At what cost to the team? What would a 5 year deal look like? How much guaranteed? Are you willing to jeopardize the future (Timmons, Woodley, MIller, Troy) for JH?

He is a beast and one we haven't seen in Pittsburgh in awhile. I want him to be a Steeler; he's a Steeler through and through, but, business always rears its ugly head.

Pappy