NFL: Former Steeler teammate says James Harrison erased his legacy

New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty got a closer look at James Harrison on Wednesday when the linebacker strolled through the locker room.

It left an impression.

“He’s a well put together human being. Scary looking some would probably say,” McCourty said.

The Patriots’ deal with the former Steelers star also raised some eyebrows in Pittsburgh, where some of his former teammates voiced their displeasure with the circumstances surrounding his departure on Saturday.

“He erased himself; he erased his own legacy here. Let’s be serious,” Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey said. “It’s crazy. He wanted that. It wasn’t like the team said, ‘We want to let go of James Harrison.’ James Harrison wanted that.”

Harrison was unavailable for comment after his first practice with New England.

Giants suspend cornerback Apple

A day after Pro Bowl safety Landon Collins referred to him as a cancer, cornerback Eli Apple was suspended by the New York Giants for the season finale against the Washington Redskins.

The Giants announced the suspension after Apple participated in practice. Interim general manager Kevin Abrams and interim coach Steve Spagnuolo informed him of the suspension. “We have suspended Eli for a pattern of behavior that is conduct detrimental to the team,” Abrams said.

Collins never referred to Apple, the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2016, by name in a radio interview Tuesday. He said only one cornerback on the team needed to grow up and later added, “But that first pick he’s a cancer.”

Collins apologized for the comments Wednesday.

Browns’ Jackson thinks he’ll be back

Hue Jackson doesn’t think the losing will include his job.

Cleveland’s beleaguered coach, who takes an 0-15 mark this season and 1-30 record over two years into Sunday’s finale at Pittsburgh, said he has no doubt owner Jimmy Haslam will keep his word and keep him around in 2018.

When Haslam fired Sashi Brown, the team’s vice president of football operations, on Dec. 8 and replaced him with general manager John Dorsey, he also announced Jackson would return.

“I unequivocally believe without question that what Jimmy Haslam said is what is going to happen here,” Jackson said. “There is nothing that anybody has said to me to make me feel differently.”

With a loss Sunday, the Browns would join the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only 0-16 teams in NFL history.

Etc.

Patrick Mahomes II will make his regular-season debut for the Kansas City Chiefs when they visit the Denver Broncos on Sunday. It will be the first time since Steve Fuller in 1979 that Kansas City started a rookie quarterback in a non-strike year. The Chiefs, who clinched the AFC West last week, cannot improve their playoff positioning, so starter Alex Smith won’t play. ... Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler said he hasn’t decided whether he wants to play a 13th NFL season in 2018. Cutler delayed the start of a broadcasting career in August to join the Dolphins when quarterback Ryan Tannehill suffered a season-ending knee injury. ... A St. Louis judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the city of St. Louis and the region’s sports authority over the departure of the Rams, meaning the case will likely go to trial. The lawsuit filed in April alleges that the Rams failed to meet league relocation rules when leaving for Los Angeles prior to the 2016 season, constituting a contractual breach.