Former Steelers LB James Harrison Agitated With NFL Contract Landscape

The Pittsburgh Steelers were extremely busy during this recent NFL free agency period, giving out contracts and bolstering their roster ahead of the 2026 regular season. The team made several signings, which earned them high praise around the NFL for their efforts. In other news around the league on Monday, Dexter Lawrence of the New York Giants requested a trade over his current contract. This got the NFL world buzzing again and people are continuing to try and keep up with the craziness of the frantic offseason. 

On Tuesday's episode of Deebo & Joe, former Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison provided his thoughts on the contract situation and the news of Lawrence requesting a trade out of New York. The comments indicated that Harrison is not happy with this trend around the league.

Lawrence, a star defensive tackle, is seemingly upset with the fact that he does not have guaranteed money in his contract, on top of the fact that he is outperforming most of his peers at the position. The Steelers recently saw a similar situation play out when defensive lineman Cam Heyward requested a new contract entering the 2025 season, given the rising market for defensive linemen around the league. Heyward got his wish and the new re-worked deal drove his potential earnings up to possibly $18 million.

"I'm all for it. I want to see more of it," Harrison explained. "Can't stop thinking about it. Don't want to see it in Pittsburgh though."

While Harrison's comments take the stance of backing Lawrence in this newly surfaced feud over his contract, they also show the loyalty that remains from Harrison to the Black and Gold. This did not appear to be a subtle shot at Heyward's recent dispute over money heading into the 2025 NFL season; however, Harrison is still very in touch with what happens around the league and seemingly would not be a fan of this trend hitting Pittsburgh.

While these situations can often be met with scrutiny, it is not uncommon for players to request more money, especially if there are guys not performing as well as them, but being paid more. In fact, last summer during Heyward's dispute, former NFL executive Doug Whaley blasted Heyward for publicly requesting more money from the organization. This is not something the Steelers are immune to, but Harrison certainly does not want it becoming the norm in the Steel City.

Steelers Need To Avoid Repeating History

While Pittsburgh has seen this happen before, they have done a good job overall of not allowing it to become common amongst players. In 2018, former running back Le'Veon Bell pulled off a similar move to the ones from Heyward and now Lawrence. Bell stood firm on his demand for more money however, and ended up sitting out the entire 2018 NFL season. After several years away from the league, Bell eventually came out and admitted that he ended up regretting holding out in the Steel City.

Pittsburgh is now under a new regime with Head Coach Mike McCarthy taking over in 2026. While the organization has done a great job keeping the holdout situations mostly contained over the last several years, this could be a dangerous culture shift if it trickles into Pittsburgh more heavily. It will be key for McCarthy and company, as well as Omar Khan to set the tone and begin to turn over a new leaf this upcoming season as they welcome in their first head coaching change in nearly two decades.

While it does appear these situations are more outliers than anything in Pittsburgh, it also has become trendy around the league and the Steelers needs to keep operating in good faith to ensure it does not leak into their locker room.

Do you agree with Harrison's take? Follow us for more news!

#SteelerNation