PHOENIX — The Steelers liked what they saw of James Harrison after he came out of retirement in 2014 and eventually regained his conditioning. They also liked the way the young players responded to actually seeing him in person and watching his legendary workout routine.
After toying with the idea of waiting to bring back an outside linebacker who will be 37 in May, the Steelers decided they wanted Harrison back in their locker room right now and signed him to a two-year, $2.75 million contract that includes a modest $500,000 signing bonus.
And they are not bringing back Harrison merely to be a strong fixture in the locker room. General manager Kevin Colbert declared the right outside linebacker spot, where Jarvis Jones is waiting to prove he is worthy of being a former No. 1 draft choice, an open competition.
“In my eyes, it is,” Colbert said Sunday, relaxing on the back patio of the Arizona Biltmore, site of the NFL’s annual owners meetings. “I think it’s a comfort to know you have two people competing, one you know what he can do and hope he can still do it, and the other who you’ve seen flashes and you want to see more. I think it’s a comfort to know if one fails, you have a fallback.”
Colbert did not rule out the possibility of either Jones or Harrison moving to left outside linebacker, even though Harrison has strictly played on the right side during his career with the Steelers.
Right now, Arthur Moats, who was re-signed to a three-year contract, is the starter at left outside linebacker. But the Steelers are expected to take an outside linebacker high in the draft, something Colbert indicated as much.
“That’s a good problem to have,” Colbert said. “Jarvis has to come in and pick up where he left off before he injured his wrist because I think he was playing very well at that point. To have James there to spell him, to push him, to compete with him, we can’t help but benefit from having two of them.”
Harrison, who is training in the Phoenix area, came to the Arizona Biltmore Sunday to meet with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and director of football and business administration Omar Khan to sign his contract.
Harrison came out of retirement to play in 12 games for them in 2014 and played well enough after he got into shape to convince him — and the Steelers — he could play for one more season.
Colbert said the Steelers considered waiting until the summer to re-sign Harrison to save him from taking part in offseason training activities and even a part of training camp. But after watching the way the young players have followed his example, they wanted to make sure this former NFL defensive player of the year was around all the time.
If Harrison wasn’t re-signed, he couldn’t use the team’s training facilities after June 1 under NFL rules.
“The value he provides right now for those young guys trumps that,” Colbert said. “He’s valuable in the building right now. He’s been in the building, voluntarily, really since the end of season. It’s been amazing to watch. Those young guys see it and think, ’OK, I’m supposed to do that, too.’ They’re all kind of following his lead.”
Colbert also said the situation with Jason Worilds, who surprisingly announced his retirement, had nothing to do with re-signing Harrison.
“Quite honestly, we didn’t know where Jason’s market was going to go, and we anticipated it being much more than we were going to be able to handle,” Colbert said. “So his decision to retire really didn’t affect us one way or another because he really wasn’t in our plans.”
Harrison had 5½ sacks in 2014, including two each in back-to-back games against the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens. He started four of the final six games, including postseason, while Jones tried to come back from a wrist injury that put him on the short-term injured reserve list for nine games.
“I know in James’ situation, he’s not going to come in and view himself as anything else but starter-capable,” Colbert said. “That’s why he is who he is and why we want to have him.”
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com Twitter @gerrydulac.
First Published: March 22, 2015, 4:54 p.m.
Updated: March 23, 2015, 3:52 a.m.