James Harrison came dangerously close to making NFL history this week: He almost became the first player ever suspended for something he posted to Instagram. And in doing so, the Steelers linebacker also learned a valuable social media lesson: Apparently, you're not allowed to film your drug tests and put them on Instagram, because if you do, you'll fail the drug test and be suspended.
Harrison learned that valuable bit of information on Tuesday when he was asked to take a random drug test by the NFL.
After the NFL's drug tester asked Harrison for a urine sample, the Steelers linebacker pulled out a camera because he wanted to film it. As odd as that might sound, Harrison's actually done it before: Back in February, he recorded one of his urine tests and posted it to Instagram.
Anyway, this time around, Harrison was told he "can't record the piss test" because if he does, it will go down as a "positive," which is the same thing as a failed test.
At one point, the NFL drug tester who was sent to collect Harrison's urine sample even says, "If you're not going to put the camera away, I'm not going to test you."
You can hear the entire meeting between Harrison and the tester below.
Things got so contentious between Harrison and the tester that the tester eventually had to call his boss, Ryan Willis, the man who's in charge at Drug Free Sports, the company that runs the NFL's testing program.
Willis definitely didn't side with Harrison.
"I was told I can't record [the test] and that if I did try and record it, they wouldn't test me and the fact that they wouldn't test would make [my test] count as positive," Harrison explained on Instagram.
It sounds like Harrison took the test, but only because he didn't want to see anyone fired.
Since I heard they fired the last guy who let me record the test, I didn't record it. I'm not... https://t.co/jTPdB3arUG
— James Harrison (@jharrison9292) May 18, 2016
Apparently, the guy who let Harrison film his February test got fired for not following protocol.
Harrison explained on Wednesday why he was even trying to film his test.
"To clarify -- I never have a problem being tested. I wasn't videoing the test because I was suspicious of the process," Harrison wrote on Instagram. "I was only videoing leading up to the actual test to post it on IG for what I think is interesting behind the scenes content for the fans, which I had done when I was tested earlier this year, with no notice of wrongdoing."
Harrison also pointed out that the league interrupts his life so he should be able to do whatever he wants when they interrupt his.
"If the league can invade our space and interrupt our preseason training with shows like Hard Knocks because it's interesting behind the scenes content for the fans, why can't I post this?" Harrison wrote.
It's hard to say if Harrison is in the wrong here. Although the Collective Bargaining Agreement does say that "A player who fails to cooperate fully in the testing process as determined by the Medical Advisor will be treated as having a Positive Test Result," it doesn't explicitly say you can't film the test and put it on Instagram.
I'm guessing the NFL will make sure to work that specific clause in the next CBA.
