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Pittsburgh Steelers LB James Harrison, NFL to meet Thursday

By The Sports Xchange
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison (92) reacts as he receives a unsportsman like penalty for removing his helmet in the third quarter quarter of the Cincinnati Bengals 16-10 win in Pittsburgh on November 1, 2015. Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison (92) reacts as he receives a unsportsman like penalty for removing his helmet in the third quarter quarter of the Cincinnati Bengals 16-10 win in Pittsburgh on November 1, 2015. Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI | License Photo

Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison will meet with NFL investigators on Thursday over the Al-Jazeera report that linked him to performance-enhancing drugs.

Harrison has been informed the meeting is 11 a.m. ET Thursday at the Steelers' practice facility, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

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Harrison and Green Bay Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers were among the four active players implicated in the Al-Jazeera report. Matthews and Peppers were meeting with the league Wednesday. Free agent linebacker Mike Neal will meet with NFL investigators on Thursday in Chicago.

An NFL Players Association attorney will be present at Harrison's interview, as well as the others, to help limit the questions to the specifics of the Al-Jazeera report, a source told ESPN's Dan Graziano.

The league set a deadline to consent to an interview with the NFL by Thursday. Adolpho Birch, the NFL's senior vice president of labor policy and league affairs, had sent a memo to the NFLPA warning that suspensions will go into effect on Aug. 26 if the players failed to cooperate.

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The NFL last month cleared retired quarterback Peyton Manning, also named in the report, after he cooperated with the league following a seven-month investigation. Manning retired after his Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl 50 in February.

The 38-year-old Harrison has said he doesn't mind answering questions but isn't thrilled with the process.

"Whatever evidence they think they may have or reason for questioning me, it's out of my control, I really don't know," Harrison told reporters last week. "I wouldn't have a problem with (the interview) being filmed, live. ... That way, I've been prosecuted and persecuted, publicly in the media by them for something that I didn't do, so I don't see why we can't have the media there and do a live interview and ask their questions and I can answer them and y'all can see whatever evidence it is they say they've got. ...

"If it goes to a conduct-detrimental-(to-the-league charge), it leans to the hands of that crook, I mean Roger Goodell, and he can do whatever he wants. That's just the collective-bargaining agreement that the players signed (in 2011)."

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