It doesn’t take much to outrage the Pittsburgh Steelers fanbase. And it obviously doesn’t take much to get on the bad side of Steelers linebacker James Harrison. Following the latter’s public admission that he was being drug tested for a third time this offseason, the former responded with a barrage of comments border lining on unfair treatment of Pittsburgh’s all-time sacks leader.

I love a good conspiracy theory, so I started digging into the various policies and agreements between the NFL and it’s player’s union, the NFLPA. Is Harrison’s drug testing as “random” as we’re made to believe?

I can tell you that the answer isn’t quite clear, but I will try to shed some light on the policies. But first, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if “someone” along the chain of command for the league’s various testing processes didn’t have an eye on Harrison. For starters, how many players make it past their 39th birthday? Of course, Steelers fans are well aware of the linebacker’s insane workouts, recovery inside of a hyperbaric chamber, and whatever else Harrison deems necessary to keep himself in condition to keep up with players nearly half his age.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUs4UjggTK1/?taken-by=jhharrison92

Yet, that someone (or someones) feel there’s something else giving James the edge he needs to carry on as an elder statesman in a young man’s game. I can’t necessarily blame them for being suspicious, as we’ve seen baseball players “cheat” to remain in the game in their late 30’s and early 40’s. That’s not an indictment on Harrison, but a guilt by association premise assumed on all athletes. If you’re successful when others have not been, the assumption is that clearly there must be a reason why.

Throw in last year’s Al Jazeera witchhunt, and questionable fines and penalties (including a game suspension years ago for a questionable, but not dirty, hit on Browns QB Colt McCoy) and it’s easy to see how Harrison may feel there’s a target on his back. But is the league using their policies to harass the veteran?

Some feel that answer is yes and Harrison feels that way as well:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVARPyQAFD1/

The animosity between the league office, specifically Commissioner Roger Goodell, and James Harrison goes back many years. Following a season in which the linebacker was the most-fined player in the NFL, his comments about Goodell surfaced in an interview:

Up until last year, there was no word of me being dirty – till Roger Goodell, who’s a crook and a puppet, said I was the dirtiest player in the league. If that man was on fire and I had to p*** to put him out, I wouldn’t do it. I hate him and will never respect him.

While words and workouts don’t justify being targeted more often than others, it paints a better portrait as to how and why James would feel he’s being unfairly treated. The frequency of the testing procedures, as outlined by the NFL’s Policy on Performance-Enhancing Substances, doesn’t help outline if there’s any wrong doing either:

Players under contract who are not otherwise subject to reasonable cause testing may be tested during the off-season months at the discretion of the Independent Administrator, subject to the collectively bargained maximum of six (including blood tests) off-season tests. Players to be tested in the off-season will be selected on the same basis as during the regular season, irrespective of their off-season locations.

The “regular season” selection process is as follows:

Each week during the preseason and regular season, ten (10) Players on every Club will be tested. By means of a computer program, the Independent Administrator will randomly select the Players to be tested from the Club’s active roster, practice squad list, and reserve list who are not otherwise subject to ongoing reasonable cause testing for performance-enhancing substances. The number of Players selected for testing on a particular day will be determined in advance on a uniform basis. Players will be required to provide a specimen whenever they are selected, without regard to the number of times they have previously been tested consistent with the limits set forth in the Policy.

Keep in mind that his is directly from the league’s Policy on Performance-Enhancing Substances, and doesn’t include testing covered under the separate Policy and Program on Substances of Abuse. Harrison indicated his tests were for PEDs, which indicates he has already met half of the maximum allowable tests per player over a span of time starting on March 29th. From that point forward, Harrison would be one of ten players chosen from the Steelers current roster to be tested. Currently, the roster spans 90 names, minus Le’Veon Bell and Martavis Bryant who are likely subject to a different set of standards based on prior failures.

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll call it 90 on the roster, which means 10 will be chosen each week. Harrison’s odds of being picked are 1-in-9, every week, with ten weeks of time between his first test and last tests. Now, the odds of being chosen three times out of those ten weeks could vary depending on how you want to approach the task at hand. For example, if you flip a coin, your odds of getting heads is 50% for each flip. It doesn’t mean if you flip the coin ten times that it will land on heads exactly five times.

Or six, or four, or any number for that matter. The odds remain the same: 50%, and thus, Harrison’s odds remain the same, roughly 1-in-9, each week they are subject to testing.

The only way Harrison is removed from the pool is if he is tested six times during the offseason. Keep in mind too, the preseason/regular season and postseason have their own guidelines, which would place the linebacker back into the “random selection” process. But is that process as “random” as others may want us to believe?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVAmjBZgJbV/?taken-by=jhharrison92

Ladies and gentlemen, I only offer the scenarios, not the solutions. A case can be made that Harrison is the subject of bad luck, or another case could be made that he is, in fact, being unfairly targeted. The only silver lining in all of this “random” testing is that Harrison can only undergo three more tests before the start of the preseason. The NFL’s exhibition games begin on August 3rd with the Hall of Fame Game, with the Steelers kicking off their preseason at New York on August 11th.

That’s nine more weeks to see if Harrison can break his previous record of three tests in ten.

To quote the movie The Hunger Games: May the odds be forever in your favor.