James Harrison sends message by standing alone for national anthem in first game with Patriots

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James Harrison understands that the NFL is a business, and he demonstrated that by standing alone before Sunday’s game against the Jets kicked off — literally.

Harrison elected to stand by himself during the national anthem — rather than with his new teammates, which isn’t something you normally see by a player on their new team. It appears that Harrison was sending a message to his former teammates in Pittsburgh, that he’s more of a rental than anything, and isn’t part of the Patriots culture that a lot of the players buy into.

Here he is standing behind his new Patriots teammates — by himself — near the bench.

The veteran linebacker was released by the Steelers last weekend, and ended up clearing waivers, which led him to being claimed by the Patriots on Tuesday.

Harrison — who is playing in his 15th year in the league — suited up for the Steelers for 13 full seasons, as well as the majority of this one. But he’s now playing for the Patriots, even if it’s only because they were the only team that was interested in his services. Still, he appears to feel like the odd man out, which he displayed before Sunday’s game began.

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