NFL to Interview Players Connected to Al Jazeera PED Report

Despite the protestations of the NFL Players Association, three of the players linked to performance-enhancing drugs by an Al Jazeera report will reportedly meet with league investigators this month.

ESPN.com's Chris Mortensen reported Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison and Green Bay Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers have agreed to a meeting. On Friday, free-agent linebacker Mike Neal also decided to meet with the NFL, per Albert Breer of The MMQB.

The NFL had threatened the players with suspension if they refused to cooperate. NFL senior vice president of labor policy and league affairs Adolpho Birch said the following in a letter sent to the NFLPA, per USA Today's Tom Pelissero:

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For those players whose interviews do not take place on or before [Aug. 25], or who fail meaningfully to participate in or otherwise obstruct the interview, their actions will constitute conduct detrimental and they will be suspended, separate and apart from any possible future determination that they violated the steroid policy. The suspension for each such player will begin on Friday, August 26 and will continue until he has fully participated in an interview with league investigators, after which the Commissioner will determine whether and when the suspension should be lifted.

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Harrison will meet with the league Aug. 29, according to a letter sent by the NFLPA to the NFL. Harrison's agent confirmed the parties will speak at Steelers headquarters rather than the NFL offices in New York, per Jacob Klinger of PennLive.com. 

Harrison agreed to the interview with the NFL so he could stand up for himself and not hurt the team, according to Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL.com. "They don't have credible evidence. Period. End of discussion," Harrison said, per Kinkhabwala.

Mathews and Peppers are likely to meet with investigators on Aug. 24, according to Pelissero.

Harrison, Matthews and Peppers were three of the most prominent athletes listed in an Al Jazeera investigative report last December. Former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning was also listed and cooperated with a league investigation. The league cleared him in July.

While the current players likely face a similar fate—the Al Jazeera report has been widely rebuked after main parties retracted their accounts—the NFLPA has supported its players in not speaking to the NFL. The Players Association has claimed there is not enough evidence to merit interviews.

The NFL, which launched an investigation in the immediate aftermath of the report, disagreed and has been strong-arming the players into cooperation. 

NFLPA president Eric Winston said during an interview on PFT Live: 

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It is what it is. And unfortunately we've gone from this place where NFL [business] used to be conducted in a super-professional way by men that have played this game for a long time and a front office that has run this great game for a long time to now it's almost seemingly like these scripts that are pulled from WWE SmackDown or something like that.

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NFLPA lawyer Heather McPhee sent the league a letter on Harrison's behalf. In it, the NFLPA disagrees with the league's stance that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has the right to suspend players for not cooperating and accuses the NFL of leaking the letter to the players, per Breer:

Harrison said he wanted to meet with the league to avoid being a distraction to his team. That's likely the case with Peppers and Matthews as well, whose backs were no doubt against the wall over the prospect of a suspension. 

The NFL has been awarded near-unprecedented power after courts ruled in its favor regarding the suspensions of Tom Brady and Adrian Peterson. Armed with those rulings, all four players would have been fighting an uphill court battle. 

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.