James Harrison Retirement: $75K Fine Too Much for Dirty Player?

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison told Fox News Radio Tuesday night that he may retire because of the NFL's new stance on helmet-to-helmet contact.

What Harrison is saying with his comments is that he's a dirty player, he has no intention of changing and he'd rather keep his reputation as a "Bad Man" than play within the rules.

Harrison was fined $75,000 on Tuesday for his brutal hit on Cleveland Browns wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi that gave Massaquoi a concussion, knocking him out of the game.

This came just minutes after Harrison knocked Joshua Cribbs out of the game on a similar type of hit.

Neither hit was flagged, but the league stated on Monday that the hit on Massaquoi should've have been flagged.

The real issue here is playing style and the modern NFL. Harrison is saying the NFL's decision to start enforcing a rule already on the books will affect the way he plays football.

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Since player health doesn't seem to matter to Harrison and if he's not willing to play within the rules, the NFL loses nothing by his decision to quit.

Harrison said he will be speaking to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin today and that it will be up to Tomlin to convince him to stay.

Even though Tomlin will do everything he can to keep Harrison from quitting, the bottom line is the conversation should consist of Tomlin pointing to the door and saying, "If you have that little faith in yourself as a player, and that little heart, and are that willing to just quit on your team because of one big fine, don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out."

The Steelers need Harrison, but there's no excuse for dirty play. Instead of shrugging his shoulders and saying he's talented enough to play within the rules, Harrison now is contemplating taking his ball and going home because he got yelled at for being too rough.

The fact is that leading with your helmet has been illegal in the NFL for years, and the league just hasn't done a very good job enforcing it.

After last weekend's hit parade, coupled with the Rutgers player being paralyzed, things were going to change; that's just the reality of the situation.

The league shouldn't take tackling out of the game, as some have proposed this new change will do, but using the helmet as a cruise missile is something that has no part in the game anymore.