It's been the question everyone has been asking throughout the season: What is the plan the Steelers are using with James Harrison?
The team's all-time sack leader has been MIA for much of the season and has even been inactive at times during the Steelers' 6-2 start.
Through eight games, he's been inactive twice and did not play in two other games. Harrison has played just 29 snaps, recording three tackles, two pressures and one sack - a game-sealing play against Kansas City Oct. 15.
Outside linebackers coach Joey Porter said Harrison's lack of playing time has more to do with the maturation process rookie T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree have made than anything the Steelers' all-time sack leader has not done.
"We drafted (Watt) to come and play. It's not like he's not playing good football. He's doing everything we asked him to do," Porter said Tuesday. "With James, it's the same situation as it was in the beginning. It's not like it was the first couple of years when James came back. We were trying to find our starters. We already knew if the guys didn't get it done, we would have James right there. This year, we actually have two young guys who can actually play. That's not to say James can't. But for those two guys to grow, they have to be out there on the football field. So we're playing them."
Harrison had retired after a 2013 season spent in Cincinnati following his release by the Steelers earlier that year in a salary cap-related move. But the Steelers had injuries early in that season and talked him out of retirement. He wound up splitting time with 2013 first-round draft pick Jarvis Jones the past three seasons, recording at least five sacks in each of those years.
Despite being a free agent at the end of last season, Harrison decided he wanted to continue to play. And the Steelers wanted him back. During the offseason, he signed a two-year, $3.5 million deal to return.
But the Steelers let Jones go in free agency and selected Watt in the first round as his replacement.
Dupree, the Steelers' top draft pick in 2015, saw what effect the rotation had in his first two seasons and said it hurt his progress and that of Jones.
"The rotation can hold you back a lot. Just being out there and playing, that's always the best way to go," Dupree told me.
I asked him about the desire of fans to see Harrison - one of two players with two Super Bowl rings still on the team - on the field, especially when he shows he can still make plays, as he did in the win over Kansas City.
"They've just got to think about it," Dupree said. "Deebo is a great player. At the end of the day, Deebo is 39 years old. It's up to me and T.J. to fill the void. Everybody wants to see Deebo play because he has a great legacy here. He can still do great things. But it's a different time now."
Porter agrees.
"If you're not out there a lot and you're rotating, you're going to start second-guessing yourself," he said. "The only way to get through the growing pains is to actually be out there in the fight. We're putting those guys in the fight because they're our future."
Porter has a completely different relationship with Harrison than many others.
While many of the young Steelers are in awe of Harrison having seen the 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the Year from afar as youngsters, Harrison played with Porter on the 2005 Super Bowl team, and it was Porter who took a young Harrison under his wing early in his career.
Harrison was also one of the reasons why the Steelers felt comfortable releasing Porter in 2007 in another salary cap-related move.
It was the first major move made by Mike Tomlin when he joined the Steelers.
"I try to tell him how fortunate he is. I know how hard he works in the offseason. It's easy to get frustrated. I haven't been around a player who doesn't want more, let alone the all-time sacks leader for a franchise," Porter said. "Obviously, he feels like he can go out there and do more. But you've got to understand his situation. I tell him, 'You're 39 years old and going to turn 40. You're in a fortunate spot. A lot of people don't get that.'
"Nobody plays linebacker here at 39. When you hit 30, they're always looking to do something different. The fact they have got you still here shows how much loyalty to you that you can still play. As long as you're here, you can't be mad at the situation. I don't care if it's five, 10 snaps per game, they still think you're good enough to be on this roster and play. Don't make that into a negative. We're here to win a championship and we want you to be a part of that. No matter how we use you, we want you to be a part of that. And when we do use you, I know you're going to go out there and make a play."
Despite the fact the dynamic has changed between Porter and Harrison, from player-to-player to coach-to-player, the two still have a close bond. And because of that bond, Porter feels if Harrison was getting to the breaking point in terms of his frustration, he would say something. That hasn't happened.
"Me and James have a good relationship. That's like my little brother," Porter said. "He knows it's nothing personal. He knows we're trying to win a championship. He knew what that was when he came back."
But it doesn't make things any easier. And the Steelers know they have to make some concessions when it comes to putting the 39-year-old linebacker into a game.
"If you see how (teams) are attacking us, it's not like they can rush every play," Porter said. "Our outside linebackers are dropping a lot. And I'm not going to put James in that situation. When James is in the game, he's going to rush the quarterback. I'm not saying he can make those plays T.J. is making. T.J. is 22. James is 39. Covering is not his strong suit. His strong suit is when somebody is coming in here and trying to run the ball, I can put him in those tough situations.
"We get into the playoffs and we need a sack, I can put him in those situations because they're not going to be too big for him. His time will come when we're going to need him."
ODDS AND END ZONES
Rookie cornerback Cameron Sutton practiced on Tuesday, meaning the clock begins ticking on his return from the Injured Reserve List. The Steelers will now have 21 days to decide whether to place him on their active roster or keep him on injured reserve.
Sutton, a third-round draft pick, was placed on injured reserve before the start of the regular season because of a hamstring injury.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers practice, Rooney Sports Complex, Oct. 31, 2017. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS