Steelers Now
It’s no secret that former Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison has not always seen eye to eye with Mike Tomlin. Harrison stated on several occasions that he did not like how Tomlin wasn’t upfront with him late in his career. Harrison ended his career with the New England Patriots in 2017 after basically forcing his way off the roster. The Steelers finally had enough and released the franchise legend.
Harrison has bashed Tomlin several times over the years, especially recently. Stating that he never thought Tomlin was a great coach and that he doesn’t belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
During the most recent episode of the Deebo & Joe podcast, Harrison revealed that he had an intense text exchange with his former head coach in 2018. Tomlin was not pleased with some of Harrison’s comments on FOX’s Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless.
“Our relationship was business. It was just that, it was business,” Harrison said. “The No. 1 thing I was taught by my parents is you never lie to me, ’cause if you lie to me, I can’t help you, and then I can’t trust you. The first time I know he lied to me was in 2010. That wasn’t the biggest thing. But the big thing was the first time I know he lied on me, and that was 2013. As much as he says he doesn’t listen to the outside noise, I found that to be a lie in 2018.
“He was into his feelings because I said that [Bill} Belichick was a better coach than him,” Harrison said. “He responded with something like [La’Marr] Woodley was a smarter player than you.”
Harrison, who had the text exchange saved on his phone, started to read it verbatim to co-host Joe Haden.
“Here’s his text,” Harrison said. “He says ‘Wood was a smarter player than you, but I would never say that to anybody but you. I’m not with you for what you say. I’m always with you because of your relationship with the game and what you were willing to do. Don’t act funny. I will always be with you, no matter how f***ed up you are LOL.”
Harrison’s response was, “If you wanted to tell the world that, I would not be upset. That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it just like I am to mine. No disrespect to it, it was just my honest answer to a question that was asked. Good luck Thursday, I’ll always be with you no matter how f***ed up you are. 100.”
Harrison has been around the team and at training camp since the heated text exchange with Tomlin. He even expressed an interest in coaching for the Steelers, but the organization ghosted him.
Harrison revealed the news on the Ben Roethlisberger’s Footbahlin podcast in December of 2024.
“Let’s just say I put a feeler out there, but I got no response”, Harrison told Roethlisberger.
Harrison then showed Roethlisberger his phone under the...
