Big news Tuesday

The Steelers have officially signed former NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison to a contract to return to the team and help improve the depth at a position that was beaten up in the win over Carolina with injuries to Ryan Shazier and Jarvis Jones.

Harrison, an outside linebacker, will improve the team's depth at outside linebacker, where the backup would have been inside linebacker Terence Garvin had nothing been done.

Jones was placed on injured reserve with a designation to return after suffering a wrist injury in the 37-19 win at Carolina.

Harrison, 36, last played for the Steelers in 2012. He spent the 2013 season with the Cincinnati Bengals after being released when he refused to take a salary cut.

Harrison is no longer the pass rusher he once was, but he is still a very good run defender. I would expect the Steelers to use both he and Moats, who has shown himself to be a solid pass rusher after coming over from Buffalo in the offseason, in a rotation opposite Jason Worilds.

Head coach Mike Tomlin said Harrison likely won't play this week when the Steelers host Tampa Bay, as the team eases him into things and finds out how much of the defense he has retained while also testing his conditioning.

In other news, Tomlin said Sean Spence will replace Shazier at inside linebacker until the rookie is ready to return from his sprained MCL in a couple of weeks.

At cornerback, the situation is a little more in flux.

While Antwon Blake moved into the cornerback rotation against the Panthers, Tomlin said the team will take a look at Brice McCain and B.W. Webb there as well.

The team is intent on keeping William Gay in the slot on passing downs, and he's done a great job there the past two seasons. But Blake and McCain are both 5-9, while Webb is 5-11.

Webb would seem to be the best suited to play on the outside, though Blake does have a 40-plus-inch vertical leap.

Rookie Shaq Richardson could also be activated from the practice squad, but it's doubtful he would be an option on the outside just yet. That would be more of a move to help out on special teams.

Safety Shamarko Thomas played the nickel role at times as a rookie, but he was in the slot and has not done any work there this year with Gay playing well and Blake and McCain also learning that position.

@ Tomlin also said that rookie receiver Dri Archer and guard Ramon Foster, both of whom missed the game against the Panthers will ankle injuries, could return this week.