Earlier this week, Harrison reiterated that he is willing to meet at his house with Commissioner Roger Goodell. And again, it appears Matthews, Peppers, former Packer Mike Neal, and Steelers linebacker James Harrison are caught in the middle.
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The league’s deadline for cooperation from the four players is August 25.
“If it goes to conduct detrimental, it leans to the hands of that crook – I mean Roger Goodell – and he can do whatever he wants”, Harrison said. Unfortunately for the players, they may just end up having to serve their four games, no matter what they do or how hard they try to fight the league. “I don’t have a problem doing the interview”. “I’ve been prosecuted and persecuted, you know, publicly in the media by them for something I didn’t do”.
The Steelers linebacker, 38, said he doesn’t think the league has anything else on which to question him and that he would like the interview to be broadcast live. The report was based largely on the testimony of Charlie Sly, who worked at anti-aging clinic in Indianapolis but has since recanted his story.
Harrison enters his 14th National Football League season at age 38 and makes clear he wants to play but is considering all his options based on principle.
So whether Harrison’s interview is televised (which would be great) or simply privately preserved for future reference and use, it becomes critical for Harrison and the NFLPA to insist on the creation of a clear record of everything that transpires during the interview. He said the league’s investigation should be transparent, and open to the media.
In a memo to the NFL Players Assn. on Monday, Adolpho Birch, NFL senior vice president of labor policy and league affairs, said the league has made “at least seven attempts” to arrange interviews with the players. “They’ll do what they have to do”, said Harrison about the NFL. The players have refused to be interviewed without being presented with what theyve called credible evidence. “We asked the same questions (to them)”. I never took a PED in my life. The Packers players were not mentioned in the Harrison letter, but Mortensen’s sources noted that the two did agree to a meeting at an unknown time and place.
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If the NFL did suspend the players, it’s likely the NFLPA would file a lawsuit claiming that the league had overstepped its bounds in forcing the players to submit to interrogation and asking for an injunction to stay the suspensions.
