James Harrison is playing in his 4th Super Bowl, just not how we thought he would

James Harrison will play in his fourth Super Bowl on Feb. 4 as the Patriots take on the Eagles in Minneapolis.

Harrison has had a winding road of a career, but he will go down as one of the most fearsome linebackers the game has ever seen. He made his mark with the Steelers after years of trying to break into the NFL, winning a pair of Super Bowls in the black and gold.

While it’s not surprising Harrison’s playing in yet another Super Bowl, the way in which he got here is.

He went from a beloved Steelers icon to enemy in a matter of months.

“I basically wanted to prove them wrong,” Harrison told ESPN in 2009. “When somebody tells you you can’t do something, to sit there and eat it and take it as gospel when you believe in your heart that you can, I just can’t see dealing with that and rolling with that.”

The previously undrafted and multiple-cut recipient Harrison did that with the Steelers in a way that made him one of the most hard-nosed players in the NFL. He received a second-team All-Pro nod in his first season as a starter and was named to the Pro Bowl after trying to find his way into the NFL for five years.

He would then make four more consecutive Pro Bowls, as well as earn two first-team All-Pro nods, in 2008 and 2010, while winning AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2008. Between the 2008 and 2010 seasons, Harrison recorded 36.5 sacks, 197 solo tackles, 280 total tackles, 18 forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and a safety. He was one of the best linebackers in the game on one of the NFL’s most consistently stifling defenses.

He’s also responsible for the greatest defensive play in Super Bowl history:

After spending the 2013 season with one of the Steelers’ biggest rivals in Cincinnati — playing in 15 games and starting 10 — Harrison found his way back to Pittsburgh in 2014. Then at 36 years old, he was understandably not the same player he once was.

In the 2014 and 2015 seasons, he had just five combined starts but saw an uptick in 2016 with seven. He also led the team in sacks that year with five.

Harrison signed a new deal with the Steelers in the offseason, but one month later, they selected T.J. Watt in the first round of the NFL draft — the first sign that Harrison would see an even more decreased role in the defense.

Four months later, Steelers linebacker coach Joey Porter told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Harrison was the team’s “safety net” and “relief pitcher.” The Steelers then released Harrison in December. Harrison said he had been led to believe he’d play more, but he played in just five games and 40 snaps with the Steelers.

Harrison’s teammates were quick to set the record straight on the reason for his departure. Maurkice Pouncey didn’t hold back when he told the media that Harrison wanted out:

“That’s something he wanted to do. It’s not like they got together and said, ‘We’re gonna go cut James,’” Pouncey said. “No, that’s not what happened, and he needs to come out and admit that.

“If I wanted out, I wouldn’t let the team take the blame for it,” he said. Other Steelers, like Bud Dupree and Marcus Gilbert, also spoke out against Harrison that same day.

Harrison released his own statement on Instagram, saying that he was told he would be on the field when he signed. That wasn’t the case, and Harrison mentions he asked for his release early on in the season because of it:

Harrison was now a 39-year-old free agent, past his prime, but equipped with valuable experience that could help a contender.

Gosh, it makes one wonder who could possibly be interested in such a player!

When the Patriots signed Harrison, it had the scent of him making a big play against the Steelers in the AFC Championship written all over it. That, of course, didn’t happen, as the Jaguars knocked out the Steelers in the Divisional Round.

But he’s still gotten playing time for the Patriots during the postseason. He even made a big play at the end of the AFC Championship against the Jaguars (where he should have been credited with a sack):

In each of his two playoff games this season, he’s had three tackles. He’s succeeding in his role with the Patriots and has his eyes on that Super Bowl prize.

“That’s the goal,” he said via Boston.com. “To win the Lombardi (Trophy). There’s only one winner.” He added, “I’m doing whatever they ask me to do. I’m getting more snaps than I had (in Pittsburgh), and I like that.”

He’s still James Harrison, the guy who will make you feel bad about your own workout routine, as evidenced by his video working out after the AFC Championship:

As you might imagine, Belichick loves him (of course, as much as Belichick could love anybody, that is).

“This guy is a professional. He’s into football. He’s into his job and wants to do it well,” Belichick said. “I 100 percent totally respect that. That’s what you want from everybody.”

It’s not how any of us — or even likely Harrison himself — expected it to happen, but this week, he’ll be trying to win a third Super Bowl. If he does, Harrison will be helping further solidify a dynasty that was already the greatest the NFL has ever seen.