PITTSBURGH: James Harrison, who was arrested in 2008 on domestic assault charges, has resigned with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the National Football League team announced Tuesday.
Harrison rejoins the club he spent 10 of his 11 NFL seasons with, winning two Super Bowls in Pittsburgh.
The signing also comes less than a month after linebacker Harrison announced his retirement after being released by the Cincinnati Bengals in March. He played last season for the Bengals.
The move to sign Harrison is a controversal one as it comes amid a furore over the way the league and several teams handled a series of off-field incidents including the Ray Rice domestic abuse case.
Harrison was charged with assault and criminal mischief following a fight with his girlfriend in March 2008.
Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges and ordered Harrison to undergo anger management counselling and psychological counselling.
The Steelers said they are not worried about bringing in a player with a checkered past.
“I have discussed directly that climate change (in the league) with James,” said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin on Tuesday. “Knowing James, he’s grown a lot and I don’t anticipate that being an issue at all moving forward.”
Tomlin also posted a photo of himself with Harrison on Twitter with the caption, “Deebo is back. There goes the neighborhood.”
In 2011, Harrison did an interview with a US men’s magazine in which he called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a “crook and a puppet”. Harrison also made negative comments about his quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and several other NFL players.
Steelers President Art Rooney’s son, Dan, is in charge of the league’s internal probe of the Ray Rice domestic abuse case.
The league has been heavily criticized since TMZ released a video showing the Baltimore Ravens player Rice punching his then-fiancee and knocking her out in a Atlantic City hotel elevator. AFP
