James Harrison says Mike Tomlin didn't pay him for hit on Mohamed Massaquoi

James Harrison says Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin never paid him to hit anyone during his NFL career

Former Steelers great James Harrison is under fire after claiming that Mike Tomlin handed him an envelope after his devastating hit on Browns wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi in 2010.

Harrison was fined $75,000 for the hit that happened nearly a decade ago.

"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 on the Going Deep podcast. "If i had knew they was gonna fine me $75,000, I would have tried to kill him.

"Dude, I’m telling you, 75? And I ain’t gonna lie to you, when that happened, the G-est thing Mike Tomlin ever did, he handed me an envelope after that. I ain’t gonna say what, but he handed me an envelope after that."

That led to speculation about Tomlin paying Harrison after the hit. The Steelers denied it on Thursday, as did Harrison's agent. 

It didn't take long for the 5-time Pro Bowler to issue a statement of his own. 

"Wow y'all really comparing what I said to BOUNTYGATE?!? Mike T. Has NEVER paid me for hurting someone or TRYING to hurt someone or put a bounty on ANYBODY!," Harrison wrote on Instagram on Friday morning. "If you knew the full story of what happened back then you'd know that BS fine for a Legal Play wasn't even penalized during the game. The league was getting pressure because the first concussion lawsuits were starting and they had to look like they cared about player safety all of a sudden. Before that they had been SELLING a photo of THAT SAME PLAY FOR $55 on the NFL website with other videos of the NFL'S GREATEST HITS that the league Profited On back then. When the league had to start pretending like they cared about player safety they took all those things down off their website and they started fining guys ridiculous amounts for the same plays they used to profit off of. EVERYBODY knew it - even these same media people and all the fans that were sending money to me and the team to cover the fine. AGAIN AT NO TIME did Mike T. EVER suggest anybody hurt anybody or that they'd be rewarded for anything like that. GTFOH with that BS!!!"

Harrison spent 14 years with the Steelers. He also played for the Bengals in 2013 and joined the Patriots for one final playoff run at the end of the 2017 season.