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It's been a tumultuous offseason for the Cincinnati Bengals, to say the least. The early part of free agency has been marked with many significant departures of those that donned the orange and black last year and another domino fell on Thursday afternoon. Bengals linebacker James Harrison, one of the team's big gets last offseason, sent a goodbye tweet out.
Many thanks to all the @Bengals fans for your support over the last year - I had a great time in Cincinnati.
— James Harrison (@jharrison9292) March 13, 2014
Until more news develops, one can take this news and run with it how you'd like. Is he retiring? Possibly. Is he a salary cap casualty? Potentially. If he is the latter, then it begs the question: "what are the Bengals saving money for?". Regardless, it appears that Harrison was a one-year rental for the club.
Though he brought attitude and a winner's presence, Harrison was a bit of a disappointment for the Bengals defense last year. He was a two-down linebacker that was plugged into a position that didn't necessarily play to his strengths. Harrison finished the year with 31 tackles, two sacks, a fumble recovery and a boss-like interception.