PITTSBURGH -- James Harrison won't participate in his NFL interview over the Al-Jazeera America report without verbally sacking commissioner Roger Goodell.
Harrison, who proposed to meet with league investigators Aug. 30, couldn't help himself when discussing the league's dangling of potential discipline for failing to cooperate with an investigation into alleged performance-enhancing drug use.
"If it leads to the hands of that crook, I mean Roger Goodell, he can do whatever he wants," said Harrison, who wants to broadcast his interview for transparency.
"That's just the collective bargaining agreement that the players signed [in 2011]."
On Monday night, the league issued a letter to the NFL Players Association threatening to suspend Harrison, Green Bay Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers, and free-agent linebacker Mike Neal if they failed to schedule an interview by Aug. 25.
In December 2015, Al-Jazeera linked several players to PED use through primary source Charlie Sly, who has since recanted his comments.
The league said it made at least seven attempts to interview the players and that the affidavit filed by Harrison and others proclaiming innocence did not qualify as cooperation.
Harrison maintains he has never used PEDs and is interviewing because he wants to play this year -- not because he wants to make the league happy.
Speaking to ESPN's Mike & Mike on Friday morning, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith called the NFL's investigation another "public fight" between the union and the league.
"What issue that you and I would believe is reasonable has been solved in a reasonable way with the National Football League over the last few years?" Smith said. "I would say nothing."
Smith said he would prefer that the two sides find a way to settle issues in a business-like way.
Harrison, 38, is entering his 15th NFL season.
"If it went to a longer situation and I got the suspension, the bigger outcome wasn't really worth it," Harrison said. "I wouldn't be on the team. I'd hurt the team, hurt my teammates and coaches."
The NFL has not formally accepted the interview request. Harrison said he assumes the talks will happen at the Steelers' facility in Pittsburgh. The league is open to conducting interviews outside of its New York City office.
Harrison said he expects the questions to be limited to the contents of the report and said he doesn't know "whatever evidence they think they may have."
The league cleared recently retired quarterback Peyton Manning, who was a central figure in the report, shortly after interviewing him.
Harrison, who called Goodell a "dictator," "puppet" and other names in a 2011 Men's Journal interview, originally said he wanted the commissioner to conduct the interview at Harrison's house.
He'll have to settle for lunch with investigators, an experience he hopes goes viral.
"I've been prosecuted, persecuted in the media by them, for something I didn't do," Harrison said. "I don't see why we couldn't have the media there [at the interview], do it live."