After suffering a number of significant injuries on the defense in Sunday night’s victory at Carolina, the Pittsburgh Steelers are expected to sign former All-Pro and 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison.
Harrison, 36, was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2002 and he played ten seasons there from 2004 to 2013 before being released. He then spent one season on the Cincinnati Bengals before retiring. Now that second-year linebacker Jarvis Jones and rookie Ryan Shazier may miss an unspecified amount of time due to injuries, Harrison is likely to sign in the next few days.
Ed Bouchette (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) was the first to confirm the Steelers interest and Harrison posted to Twitter and Instagram about playing “one more year” in Pittsburgh. He had announced his retirement on August 30, 2014 when it was apparent he would not be on any team’s opening roster. On September 5, he and the team made it official that he retired as a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Harrison was a five-time Pro Bowl participant, two-time Super Bowl champion and will always be known in Pittsburgh for the record-breaking interception return he made in Super Bowl XLIII off Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals. The 100-yard return is the longest in Super Bowl history and the second longest in NFL history.
Check back for future updates on Harrison and the Steelers here at pittsburghsportingnews.com.
