Steelers LB Ryan Shazier tells 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 admits 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 is in line to be a free agent and Art Rooney II has said they’re open to bringing him back. However, Shazier mentioned that there’s nothing in the works right now.
“Really nothing has been decided,” Shazier said. “I definitely want to be with the Steelers. I was drafted here and everything’s been going great. I just love the atmosphere, I love the family aspect of it, but I also love the way they do business. So I definitely want to stay.”
Shazier suffered a serious back injury a few years ago that led to him undergoing spinal stabilization surgery.
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.
Shazier earned an $8.718 million salary for the 2017 season and is now in line to be an unrestricted free agent.
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.
We’ll have more regarding Shazier as the news is available.
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Hopeful he can play again what a good player he is. Injuries suck I’ll be rooting for you Ryan and I’m a jets fan. Heads up man no matter what happens you were one of the best when healthy good luck