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Just before the Steelers released linebacker James Harrison late last season, Harrison said he wouldn’t have returned to the team if he knew he’d be relegated to a deep reserve role and teammates said after his release that Harrison acted like a player who wanted the team to cut him.

It made for an acrimonious end to what had been a highly successful partnership for well over a decade, but Harrison hasn’t carried any bad feelings from the final days into retirement with him.

“I have no problem with the Steelers family,” Harrison told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I have no problem with the Rooneys. They made a business decision that was best for their organization. I made a business decision that was best for me and family at the time. We went our separate ways. Fans get mad because they’re stuck with a team, one team, that’s their team. At the end of the day, it’s a business. Yes, you have loyalties to teams, but when it comes down to it, it’s a job, and when your job fires you, you need to find another job. … There were a lot of things said, and I think a lot of guys said things because, hey, they were hurt, and when you’re hurt, you say things you may not normally say.”

Several Steelers players and team president Art Rooney II wished Harrison well when he announced his retirement this week.

Harrison signed with the Patriots after his release and went to another Super Bowl while playing much more often than he did in Pittsburgh. That play was good enough to think Harrison would keep playing, but his retirement announcement suggested he was tired of missing time with his kids. He repeated that to Bouchette, saying “it just wasn’t worth it” to miss 6-8 months with his Pittsburgh-based family to continue playing the game.