In what may come as a shock to those in the Steel City, representatives of the Pittsburgh Steelers are set to meet with former linebacker James Harrison‘s agent Monday on a one-year deal to bring the franchise’s all-time sacks leader back to the black and gold.

James Harrison made headlines last December when he and the Steelers suddenly parted ways, with the team releasing him with two weeks left in the regular season. The linebacker then channeled his inner Benedict Arnold by doing the unthinkable and joining the New England Patriots. The move was thought of by Pittsburgh fans as the ultimate snub to their team, as the Steelers have been trying to get over the hump and beat Tom Brady‘s team for years. Doing so was thought to be the final step in returning to a Super Bowl.

Instead of helping the Steelers get to the big game, Harrison would now be playing for the enemy. Comments and photos posted to Harrison’s social media further stoked the flames of tension between him and even his most loyal of fans: how could a Steelers great do this to the team that gave him several opportunities to have a stellar career?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdLjIUrgQd7/?taken-by=jhharrison92

The disdain for Harrison’s move was furthered by the Patriots making the Super Bowl, while the Steelers had an early exit from the postseason.

James Harrison reveals the secret to the Patriots’ success: better food on the plane than the Steelers pic.twitter.com/cccFWuaxWF

— Out of Bounds (@SI_outofbounds) January 30, 2018

Now, Harrison is a soon-to-be 40-year-old free agent who is looking to play what could be his final NFL season.

I maybe want to play a year at 40, maybe 41.

Remorseful, the linebacker has apologized for some of his “negative” comments after leaving Pittsburgh at the end of last year and hopes to mend fences with management and the coaching staff. After all, he only chose to join the Patriots because he felt they gave him the next-best chance at playing the most games with only a week remaining in the 2017 season.

That’s the goal every year — to go to the Super Bowl and win it.

Embed from Getty Images

Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II spoke to the media in February about the James Harrison situation, expressing some regret about how the two parties left off.

We had discussions about James over the course of the season, and I’ll just say it was a disappointment. I’ll say that there is probably blame on both sides of the fence on that one, but it’s the way it turned out.

Rooney also acknowledged that he didn’t feel as slighted by Harrison’s move to New England as some of the fanbase did.

In terms of him going to New England, when you make a decision to let a player go, you know somebody can pick them up. You can’t sit here and worry too much about where he might go from here once you’ve made the decision.

Rooney’s comments nearly two months ago suggest that there are no hard feelings about this obvious April Fool’s prank… folks, this isn’t going to happen, but I bet I had you going!

April Fools!