Steelers owner Art Rooney II told reporters on Wednesday that LB Ryan Shazier still wants to rehab with the idea of playing football again, per Ed Bouchette.
“To the extent he wants to do that, we’re open to working that out,” said Rooney, per Jeremy Fowler.
Shazier suffered a serious back injury a few years ago that led to him undergoing spinal stabilization surgery.
Rooney mentioned that they would have to re-sign Shazier this offseason to allow him return, given that his contract is up.
Last summer, Shazier said he was hoping to make a comeback and return to playing football, so this doesn’t come as a big surprise.
“My dream is to come back and play football again,” Shazier said. “I’ve been working my tail off every single day, so I have that in the back of my mind every single time I go to rehab. I just try to stay positive every day, so I’m just trying to do everything I can to get back.”
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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