The steepest in the 4 fines the previous Steelers linebacker James Harrison incurred in 2010 stemmed from a vicious helmet-to-helmet strike he delivered on Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, knocking him out that has a concussion. The strike went without penalty on the field, but the N.F.L., intent on meting out stiffer self-discipline for violations of participant safety, docked Harrison $seventy five,000 — not less than several of which, Harrison claimed over a podcast Thursday, was offset by his coach, Mike Tomlin.

Harrison, showing up on Barstool Sporting activities’s cheap authentic jerseys “Going Deep” podcast, informed his previous Pittsburgh teammate Willie Colon that Tomlin — who nonetheless coaches the Steelers — slipped him an envelope quickly following the fine was levied.

“Dude, I’m telling you — 75,” Harrison explained, referencing the quantity of the great. “And I ain’t gonna lie for you: When that happened, appropriate, the G-est point Mike Tomlin at any time did, he handed me an envelope following that. I ain’t gonna say what, but he handed me an envelope after that.”

Harrison recounted the Tale unprompted, right after Colon asked him with regards to the heftiest wonderful he absorbed across his fifteen N.File.L. seasons.

“Pay attention, on everything I like, on my daddy’s grave, I strike that gentleman with about max fifty per cent of what I'd,” Harrison mentioned of Massaquoi. “And I just hit him due to the fact I needed him to Enable unfastened in the ball. If I had knew they was gonna fine me $seventy five,000, I would have tried to destroy him.”

Harrison’s great was later on minimized to $50,000. Despite the fact that Harrison didn't explicitly say exactly what the envelope contained, the mere insinuation that Tomlin compensated him in any way evoked comparison to the so-termed Bountygate scandal, wherein The brand new Orleans Saints’ coaching team was firm around a three-12 months period to possess provided payouts to defensive players who hurt opponents, Based on a league investigation. The Saints’ coach, Sean Payton, didn't pay out gamers himself, however the league suspended him to get a year, partially, for not halting the program soon after he was built aware of it.

It can be unclear if the league will discuss the make any difference with Harrison and Tomlin; a spokesman with the N.File.L. declined to comment on Friday. League regulations stipulate that teams and its members are prohibited from paying a participant’s wonderful.

In a press release, Steelers President Art Rooney II reported he was beneficial that Harrison’s allegations are untrue. “I'm extremely specified nothing at all such as this ever happened,” Rooney stated. “I have no idea why James would make a remark like this, but there is just no basis for believing nearly anything similar to this.”

Harrison on Friday posted an announcement to his Instagram account that seemingly walked back again his earlier comment. “Mike T. Has NEVER paid out me for hurting someone or Wanting to damage another person or put a bounty on Any one!” it examine.

Harrison, combined with the Corridor of Fame protection Troy Polamalu, was the snarling deal with in the Steelers’ defense inside the 2000s, whenever they gained two Super Bowls. The league’s defensive participant with the 12 months in 2008, Harrison designed a track record for administering violent hits that teetered about the boundaries of legality. After the strike on Massaquoi in 2010, Harrison and Tomlin argued that it absolutely was clean and didn’t benefit a fine. Tomlin, at some time, also reported he favored harder penalties and rule alterations to boost player protection.

A member on the N.File.L.’s Level of competition committee, Payton, as well as the Saints’ Firm, have experienced a combative relationship With all the league considering that Bountygate, and it's got only deepened, once the egregious non-contact that most likely denied New Orleans a Super Bowl berth subsequent the 2018 season. For the duration of a radio job interview on Thursday, Payton all but challenged N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell to analyze the Steelers, indicating he could well be “shocked” In the event the league did and that men and women “shouldn’t hold their breath” awaiting it to take action.

“I do think what happened with us again in 2011 in so numerous ways was a sham, and nonetheless there wasn’t a good deal we could do with it,” Payton reported on a hundred and five.seven FM in Baltimore. “The players had been vindicated, but from the league or coaching standpoint, there is no union, there isn't any representation.”

He included, “That’ll be something that’s tucked absent or under the rug at Park Avenue. They’ll take a look at it briefly. Hear, don’t get me started off on that. I shed $six million in wage, and Actually it was something which I’ll never ever genuinely recover from simply because I understand how it was managed And the way it was run and the reasons guiding it. That’s just the truth.”