Ryan Shazier’s Contract Tolls For 2019 Season, Steelers Will Place Him On PUP List

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced that LB Ryan Shazier‘s contract will toll for the 2019 season and they will eventually place him on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform List.

The Steelers had said that they planned to have Shazier under contract for the 2019 season. 

“We will continue to support Ryan’s efforts to return to play,” said General Manager Kevin Colbert. “Although he won’t be able to help us on the field in 2019, his leadership, insight, and emotional support have always been very valuable to us, and we look forward to his contributions in our pursuit of a championship.”

Shazier has maintained that he would like to resume his NFL career, despite suffering what could end up being a career-ending neck injury a few years ago.

Shazier previously told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he “definitely wants to play again” despite the serious back injury he sustained a few years ago. 

“Yeah, I definitely want to play again,” Shazier said. “I have a time frame in my head, but I haven’t really told anybody yet. At the end of the day I’m taking it one step at a time. I’m a lot closer to my goal than I was when I got hurt.”

Shazier admitted he’s considered the possibility of pursuing different football-related jobs, but he just isn’t ready to close the door at this point in time. 

“I thought about it a little, bit but I honestly feel like my goal is attainable,” Shazier said. “My doctor said everything is attainable, so I really didn’t think about [other jobs in football] too hard.

“He just said if I keep going at the rate I’m going, the sky’s the limit, the door’s not closed yet, so I just keep pushing.”

Shazier, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Steelers back in 2014. He was in the final year of his four-year, $9.5 million contract and set to make a base salary of $1,284,292 for the 2016 season when the Steelers picked up his fifth-year option.

In 2017, Shazier appeared in 11 games and recorded 87 tackles, three interceptions, a fumble recovery, two forced fumbles and 10 pass defenses. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 8 inside linebacker out of 87 qualifying players at the time of his injury.