Pittsburgh Steelers: Maurkice Pouncey changes mind on Harrison’s legacy

The Pittsburgh Steelers are apparently still dealing with James Harrison’s departure to New England, even star offensive lineman, Maurkice Pouncey.

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2017 season didn’t end the way everyone expected, but literally no one saw James Harrison’s departure coming. The long-tenured Pittsburgh linebacker has engraved his name into the Steelers history books forever, namely because of his pick-six against Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XLIII. However, no matter his history with the black and gold, the Steelers decided released him back in December.

There were reports of Harrison falling asleep in team meetings and having “bad blood” between teammates, which made most of us believe Harrison ultimately wanted out of Pittsburgh. While that seems crazy enough within itself, who would’ve thought Harrison would’ve landed in New England?

Sure, there’s definitely a few strong rivals Pittsburgh loves to hate, but the Patriots are on a whole other level. The Pats have been the one NFL team standing in the Steelers way over the last two decades, and yet, Harrison decided he would join his former squad’s conference-rival anyway. 

Just moments after it was announced Harrison signed with the Pats, Steelers offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey had some harsh words for Pittsburgh’s former linebacker; however, it seems he’s recently changed his tone.

Take a look at this blurb from Jeremy Fowlers’ article on ESPN:

"“He erased himself,” Pouncey told reporters. “He erased his own legacy here.”Pouncey took a softer approach a month later from the Pro Bowl, explaining to ESPN exactly what he meant by the line.“Harrison, I’ve been taking some heat of that, too, because I was talking about his legacy,” Pouncey said last week. “When I say legacy, I was speaking like, you know how it is, you’re in Pittsburgh now. For him to come back to Pittsburgh inside the locker room and organization, it’s different for him. Is he going to ruin his football legacy? F— no. He won the MVP of the defense, 14-year career, he has so many accolades — that doesn’t erase it. But when you come back to Pittsburgh and you live there and your kids live there, all right, it’s a little different.”"

Even though Pouncey sounds like he’s taken a different approach to Harrison’s departure, it seems there’s still some atomicity between the two. Harrison may not have ruined his NFL legacy, but I can almost guarantee we’ll never see him wear the black and gold ever again.

Next: 10 Greatest Steelers quarterbacks of all-time

With that said, how do you feel about Harrison’s departure to New England, Steelers fans? Would you welcome him back to Heinz Field with an applause?