Harrison Quickly Recovering From Back Surgery

James Harrison has been in the news quite a bit as of late for his off the field comments, but he’s still coming back from offseason back surgery. The Tribune-Review reports that James is about 80 to 85 percent recovered from the procedures.

“He’s probably 80-85 percent right now,” agent Bill Parise said Monday. “As far as his health goes, he’s pain-free. There’s no reason why he couldn’t do everything from Day One. He’s 20 percent better than anybody in the NFL, so he’s fine. “I expect that you are seeing one of the best linebackers to play the game and I think the first day he steps on the field he will be that same linebacker. There’s no reason to believe he will not be that good and probably better than last year.” Is Harrison, at 80 or 85 percent, looking good physically when the Steelers finally report to St. Vincent College for training camp sometime in the near future? Or, should we be concerned with the 15-20 percent that Harrison is missing physically, according to Parise, who has become Harrison’s official spokesperson after last week’s inflammatory interview in the magazine “Men’s Journal,” where he ripped into everyone from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to commissioner Roger Goodell. Everything considered, Harrison, 33, is ahead of where you’d expect someone who had two back surgeries would be. “He had no options. The only thing he could do was have it fixed,” said Parise, who added that Harrison would be “sitting in a chair” and “absolutely not working out” if he had bypassed back surgery.