Snacks Harrison: Extension With Lions 'Wasn’t What Y’all Think It Was'

Damon Harrison
Photo credit © Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The divorce between Damon Harrison and the Lions remains something of a mystery. 

Why exactly did the team release him, one year after giving him an extension? And why did Snacks seem so eager to move on? 

Harrison partly addressed those questions on Twitter Wednesday, in response to a fan wondering why the star defensive tackle didn't push to stay in Detroit. 

"The Detroit lions just wasn’t a good fit for me so I had to move on," he said. "The extension wasn’t what y’all think it was. I’ll speak more on it when I retire..no need to now. My teammates know what happened."

The people of Detroit are amazing and forever a part of me. The Detroit lions just wasn’t a good fit for me so I had to move on. The extension wasn’t what y’all think it was. I’ll speak more on it when I retire..no need to now. My teammates know what happened https://t.co/md8rvyZoA5

— Damon Harrison Sr. (@snacks) March 11, 2020

It comes off as another cryptic message from Harrison, who's been known to make headlines on Twitter. After he was released last month, for example, he tweeted a photo suggesting he'd been freed from prison -- only to backtrack when questioned on it. 

So who knows, exactly, what he's referring to in his latest tweet. But it's clear Harrison had some misgivings about the $11 million extension he signed last August. The new deal gave him about a $2 million raise in 2019, mostly by way of a $7.5 million signing bonus. His 2019 base salary, meanwhile, was $1 million. 

He was scheduled to make a base salary of $8.5 million in 2020, although only $3.5 million of that was injury guaranteed. The extension also included an $8.5 million team option for 2021. 

Harrison, 31, will be a free agent when the new league year begins next week. Although he said he was considering retirement at the end of last season, frustrated to the point of tears with his declining play, it sounds like he intends to play in 2020. 

It just won't be in Detroit, where Harrison and the Lions were no longer a match. 

"We had a lot of open conversations from when we first got him and into this year, trying to get on the same page," Matt Patricia said last month. "We’re just always trying to do what’s best for the team going forward. It’s something that in conversations between both parties, thought it would just be time for that kind of departure.

"Again, I have the utmost respect for him and his ability to play the game at a high level, but for where we’re at right now, we’re just kind of going ahead a different way."