Sep 19, 2017 3 min read

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that James Harrison hasn’t been demoted as much as other players have passed him on the depth chart.

Tomlin was specifically talking about Anthony Chickillo, who was coming off a two-sack game in Cleveland.

The issue arose when right outside linebacker T.J. Watt suffered a groin injury in Sunday’s 26-9 win against Minnesota. Instead of using Harrison as Watt’s replacement, where he is listed second on the depth chart, Chickillo came into the game.

Perhaps even more telling was that when Bud Dupree came out of the game for a couple of plays later in the game, it was Arthur Moats, not Harrison who went into the game.

“Is he dropping, or are other guys ascending,” Tomlin said when asked about the move.

In the case of Chickillo, Tomlin made the decision to go with the hot hand, in this case moving Chickillo over after his two-sack game.

But Moats over Harrison was a surprise, even if it was just two plays.

Harrison, for his part, left the locker room quickly following the game and did not speak to reporters.

The 39-year-old didn’t even bother to shower, which, considering his inactivity, he likely didn’t need.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out moving forward.

Tomlin didn’t allow Harrison to practice throughout much of training camp, wanting to take a look at the younger players while also saving Harrison’s old legs.

But that inactivity also allowed those younger players to pass Harrison on the depth chart – apparently.

When I spoke with outside linebackers coach Joey Porter in training camp, he said at some point they would need to see Harrison on the field to make sure he still could play.

Perhaps watching him on the practice field, they have made that determination.

“We appreciate James. We know what James is capable of,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “James will ready himself, and there will be a time in the season when we’ll call on his services, and he’ll deliver and deliver in a big way. Much like he did in the latter part of 2016.”

Expecting Harrison to do that when he’s inactive for weeks at a time, however, might be a bit much to ask.

My theory is that because Harrison isn’t good at all in coverage and that’s not exactly Dupree’s cup of tea, either, they didn’t want to put them both on the field together.

Harrison, never a speedster, hasn’t gotten any faster, after all. And, as one source told me of Harrison’s now-famous workout videos, “You seem him pushing and pulling stuff, you don’t see him running a lot.”

The Steelers want to just rush four most of the time now, and if both Harrison and Dupree are on the field together, you really limit who can drop into coverage.

That’s my theory and I’ll stick to it unless I hear differently.

@ Tomlin wouldn’t rule any players out for Sunday’s game at Chicago, saying Watt, Stephon Tuitt, J.J. Wilcox, Marcus Gilbert and Jesse James all had a chance to play.

Gilbert, it turns out, is dealing with a hamstring issue, though it doesn’t appear to be serious. It was originally said that Gilbert was dealing with cramps – which I guess is true in a way.

We’ll see which of those players makes it through practice later in the week before we make any determinations.