Steelers Insider Ed Bouchette: 'Harrison Needs To Just Sit Down With The NFL'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- Post-Gazette Steelers Insider Ed Bouchette joined "The Cook and Poni Show" on Tuesday morning to discuss the latest with James Harrison.
The linebacker's standoff with the NFL could lead to a suspension if he doesn't cooperate in a PED investigation.
Harrison was one of five players named in a report first aired by Al-Jazeera, in which he was linked to PED use.
Bouchette says he could meet with the NFL and this would probably all be over quick, but he won't do it because he is James Harrison. In the past, Harrison has had many issues with the NFL and Rodger Goodell.
"James is James," Bouchette said. "You and I can disagree with everything he is doing, that's how he is. He is very prideful, very strong-willed. It's what made him what he is as a football player."
Bouchette said that the Steelers and his agent may try and advise him to meet with the NFL and put this to rest. However, nobody will force him into it, but the longer it goes on, the more suspicions it would raise.
"If he keeps pushing this and gets suspended, now there is a suspicion by the public over him where there shouldn't be," Bouchette said. "He just took a PED test and if he passes it, what more do they have?"
Listen to the full interview below, which includes some thoughts on possible free agent targets for the Steelers:
Bouchette tells the "KDKA Morning News" the NFL is overreacting to the report and that they now investigate everything.
He says it started after the league was "embarrassed" when a video surfaced of former Ravens running back Ray Rice beating his then girlfriend. Before the video surfaced, Rice was suspended two games.
"This is why [the NFL wants] to show they're investigating everything," says Bouchette. "I think they're dragging out a negative story for the league, for the players, for the teams involved...This is a story that could've been dead long ago."
