Pittsburgh Steelers James Harrison

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison arrives for NFL football camp at the team training facility in Latrobe, Pa. on Thursday, July 28, 2016, the day he was scheduled to meet with the NFL on his alleged PED use. He did not. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

(Gene J. Puskar)

LATROBE -- James Harrison is ready to contest the NFL on its investigation of his alleged performance enhancing drug (PED) use as hard as Tom Brady fought the league on what became known as Deflategate.

Brady's appeal of the league's four-game suspension for his alleged role in deflating footballs before the Jan. 3, 2015 AFC Championship game was denied by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month

The Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker - along with Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers and Mike Neal - is reportedly facing an indefinite suspension if he does not schedule a meeting with the NFL before Aug. 25.

In a June 28 letter, Harrison, 38, and the NFL Players Association demanded "credible evidence" from the league to justify a sitdown. NFL executive Adolpho Birch had sent Harrison a letter on June 24 scheduling an interview with Harrison on July 28. Harrison told PennLive.com on July 30 that he did not meet with the league and had no plans to do so.

The NFL first contacted Harrison for an interview in January following the release of an Al Jazeera documentary in which Austin, Texas-based pharmacist Charlie Sly alleges that Harrison used a steroid-like hormone supplement, Delta-2.

The NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances details what is considered "sufficient credible evidence" of a violation warranting an investigation. There is no mention of media reports.

Sly, the central source in the documentary, has since recanted what he said in the report. Sly was secretly filmed. Harrison denied the allegation, calling it "bulls***."

On Tuesday morning, Harrison said that he wants to play football, but hasn't sat down with the league yet on principle.

"Somebody could come out and say 'James Harrison is a pedophile,'" he said. "Are they going to suspend me, put me under investigation for being a pedophile just because somebody said it? I mean I'm not going to answer questions for every little thing that some Tom, Dick and Harry comes up with."

Harrison repeated his invitation to have the league interview him at his home and to bring NFL commissioner Roger Goodell along.

If the Steelers - the only team to vote against the expansion of the NFL's disciplinary power in the last collective bargaining agreement - were to urge him to cooperate with the league's investigation he said it might encourage him to do so, but that he doesn't know if he would.

Head coach Mike Tomlin said he won't advise Harrison on the matter.

"That has nothing to do with us," Tomlin said. "That's between him and the PA and the league. I assume that he is going to do what he needs to do."