NFL's James Harrison meeting was stupid, but not pointless

Sean Gentille

NFL's James Harrison meeting was stupid, but not pointless image

The NFL loves itself some kabuki theater, so Thursday was a good day.

League officials rolled into Pittsburgh, somehow wrangled James Harrison into a conference room, interviewed him about Al Jazeera's since-discredited PED report, then skipped town. If it seems pointless, that's because you're not the NFL.

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Harrison was the last holdout for the investigation; he spent a reported 45 minutes answering the league's questions, made it on the field for part of practice, then split. In the run-up, in between dodging the implications that he'd be suspended if he passed, he said the session would be a "waste of time." Wonder what kind of mood he was in after it was finished.

The league also had to meet with Packers linebackers Julius Peppers and Clay Matthews and free agent Mike Neal. Peyton Manning had already given his interview. Now, everything seems done, and surprise, Harrison knew what he was walking into:

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"So you're James Harrison, right?"

"Mhmm."

"Did you do any of this stuff?"

"Nope."

"OK. If you want to mess around on your phone or whatever, go ahead, but be forewarned, we have to wait like 45 more minutes. Frank has a charger in his bag if you need one."

In other words, the NFL hit its target; it didn't ask any unexpected questions, avoided uncovering anything ugly — unlikely as that may have been — and got to put the squeeze on some players in the process. Win-win.

There's no reason to overthink Graziano's report; the NFL wanted to put on a show and exert its will, because that's what the NFL does.

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In the meantime, we can wait and see what happens to the last batch of interviewees, Harrison in particular. He rips Roger Goodell at every opportunity, and beforehand, seemed to be priming the pump to do it again.

"I'm going to be cleared," Harrison said Wednesday. "They are going to give me the same thing, flash, across the bulletin board, NFL, Instagram, Twitter, all that — 'James Harrison cleared.'"

Wouldn't be a bad way to waste an afternoon.

Sean Gentille