Has Father Time caught up with Steelers’ Harrison?
Just as it was last year when the plan for the Steelers in training camp was to go with the young guys at outside linebacker at the expense of James Harrison, so it the plan again this year.
Only this time around, it isn’t Bud Dupree and Jarvis Jones the Steelers plan on moving forward with. Now, it’s Dupree and T.J. Watt.
As we saw last season, the young guys didn’t get things done. Dupree suffered a sports hernia that required surgery in training camp and missed more than half the season.
And Jones failed in his last attempt as a starter, eventually getting pushed to the bench by Harrison.
The guess this time around, however, is that Harrison’s time on the bench sticks.
The Steelers know the 39-year-old can’t possibly have a lot left in the tank. At the very least, the Steelers aren’t sure what is left, as Porter told me Monday.
“We know what he can do. At the same time, you want to see a little bit to make sure he still has got it,” said Porter of Harrison. “Everybody has to be tested to see if you still got it. We can assume something. But the NFL, sometimes you just wake up one day and that pop is gone. There will be a time when we take the wrapping off of him and let him go out there so we can see if it’s still that James from last year. If it’s still that guy, we know exactly what it is. But it’s been a little time since then. Hoping you’ve got that and knowing are two different things.”
It’s the same reason the New England Patriots turned down offers for backup quarterback Jimmy Garappolo this offseason. Tom Brady is 40. And he played at a high level again last season.
But as we saw with Peyton Manning at the end of his career, old players can fall off the edge quickly in the NFL. And when they get injured, those injuries often take longer to heal.
Harrison is a unique individual. He’s one of the Steelers’ all-time greats.
Even the greats, however, have a shelf life.
Father Time remains unbeaten.
Does this mean that Harrison could possibly not make this roster?
Porter’s comments would certainly seem to reflect that. He has to, at some point, prove he can still play this game. And right now, head coach Mike Tomlin isn’t giving him that opportunity.
Harrison has not been at the team’s practices the past two days, though he has been on campus. Tomlin said Monday that is because they have a “different training regime for 30-something players.”
It does make me wonder if the Steelers didn’t finally break the news to Harrison that they’re ready to move on.
@ After working on their two-minute offense on Sunday, the Steelers did something rare and worked on it again Monday.
Tomlin said it was because the two young quarterbacks – Josh Dobbs and Bart Houston – didn’t give the defense a good look in that drill on Sunday.
Dobbs again failed to lead his unit to a score after taking over at the 48 with 1:18 remaining and one timeout, getting picked off by William Gay.
Houston, however, hit running back James Conner on a pass to the flat out of the backfield. Well, to say he hit him with it would be an overstatement. He actually overthrew Conner, who made a leaping, one-handed catch, turned and made safety Jordan Dangerfield miss, and scooted down the sideline for a touchdown.
They did allow Houston another opporunity to run the drill, since the first one ended so quickly. This time, Houston attempted to scramble in the pocket from the 25 with 5 seconds remaining and threw a horrible incompletion to end the practice.
@ It was good to see Conner on the field and he’s made good things happen every time he’s been out there. He just hasn’t been out there as much as you might like.