Former Steelers OLB James Harrison came from a different era, and he sees the changes in today’s players, he says. Joining the podcast foray with Joe Haden, he touched on the cultural clashes he sees in 2025. Recounting a story he often tells, he believes players respond differently now to accountability.
In his “back in my day” story, Harrison talked about how the Steelers got on each other on the field for the mundane things. Slightly off here and there and the offense picks up a couple of five-yard runs. That didn’t sit well with NT Casey Hampton, up front occupying two or three linemen at a time.
“The first thing Hamp would do, he’d be like, ‘Goddamn! What the hell y’all doing back there, man?! Y’all gonna stop ‘em, make a tackle or what?’”, Harrison said. “You’ve got [Larry] Foote and Hamp right there, and they’re arguing, and the ref is like, ‘Who are you talking to?’ They think we’re arguing with the other team, but we’re talking to each other about to get a flag”.
Now 47 years old, Harrison is of the age at which there are players entering the league today who were born after his first NFL season. Although he played until 2017 even that is some time ago, and he sees the changes in today’s players.
“That’s something I was used to, even when I first got to the Steelers. You’re gonna be held accountable”, Harrison said. He talked about special teams film criticism in front of the entire team with Bill Cowher, who would publicly call out every mistake. “I think today’s players are very, very sensitive when it comes to being corrected”, he insisted.
Of course, both James Harrison and Joe Haden know for a fact that Steelers HC Mike Tomlin does the same thing. Coming over from the Browns, Haden was one of those outside veterans who found out the hard way that Tomlin doesn’t care who you are. If you make a mistake, you will not be spared public criticism.
There probably hasn’t ever been a generation throughout recorded history that didn’t see their successors as somehow less than they were. That usually takes the shape of believing they are weaker, more sensitive, less capable, resistant to hardship. Often, there is at least some grain of truth to it, but typically it is greatly exaggerated.
One thing we have seen from players change over time is their ownership over their autonomy. They are more willing to exercise their powers, for example, in contract disputes in particular. As the NFL has increasingly made the game a business, players have adopted the business mindset. Everyone is the CEO of their own lives and their own careers. As for the argument that they are less receptive to criticism, I can’t comment on that—and I don’t know that James Harrison properly can, either.
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