Rooney rejects Harrison's 'envelope' story

At one point in his career, James Harrison was being fined by the NFL on a regular basis.

And, at least according to Harrison, his head coach might have taken some measures to make sure the financial hit wasn't as bad as the hits for which Harrison was being fined on the field.

Harrison told Barstool Sports' podcast, 'Going Deep" that Mike Tomlin handed him an envelope after a hit on the Browns' Mohomed Massaquoi that drew a fine of $75,000 in 2010.

"I ain’t gonna lie to you, when that happened, right? The G-est thing Mike Tomlin ever did, he handed me an envelope after that," Harrison said. "I ain’t gonna say what, but he handed me an envelope after that."

We can make the assumption that Tomlin wasn't giving Harrison a birthday card, though Harrison makes no outright claims of a payout. Harrison was fined six times for $150,000 when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell began cracking down on helmet-to-helmet hits starting in 2010. He also was suspended for a game in 2011 for what the league deemed an illegal hit. Harrison's claims could be problematic for Tomlin. It's illegal for coaches or teams to pay the fines or otherwise give money under the table to players.

That became the basis of "Bountygate," which wound up seeing several big fines handed out and several players and coaches, including head coach Sean Payton, suspended by the league for the 2012 season for giving players additional money for big hits or knocking opposing players out of games.

The Steelers issued a statement from president Art Rooney II denying the charges.

“I am very certain nothing like this ever happened. I have no idea why James would make a comment like this but there is simply no basis for believing anything like this," Rooney said.

Harrison has been an outspoken critic of Tomlin since his release by the Steelers near the end of the 2017 season. Then again, given Harrison's animus toward the league, he might not be all that intent on repeating his claims in front of a league investigator.

For his part, Harrison claims his hit on Massaquoi wasn't intentionally brutal.

"Listen, on everything I love, on my daddy’s grave, I hit that man with about 50 percent of what I had and I just hit him because I wanted him to let loose of the ball," Harrison said. "If I had knew they was gonna fine me $75,000, I would have tried to kill him."