Shazier a sign to make NFL safer
Watching Ryan Shazier walk across the stage alongside his fiancée on Thursday night to announce the Steelers’ first-round draft pick was uplifting, inspirational and emotional for everyone. You’d have to be truly dead inside to suggest anything less.
But let’s be honest, it also served as yet another sobering reminder of the violence and brutality of the NFL, a blood sport we all love and worship, and the inherent danger these young men face every Sunday (or Monday or Thursday, as the case may be).
That Shazier is walking again — and even talking about resuming his playing career one day — after undergoing spinal stabilization surgery in December following a horrifying injury suffered on what appeared to be a routine tackle made by the star linebacker in a Monday night game against the Bengals, is a testament to his admirable determination and spirit.
Still, the ongoing debates that injuries to Shazier and so many others have fostered must continue to advance, and the NFL must be willing to further evolve when it comes to head and spinal injuries after far too many years of looking the other way. The league took an important step in March when it enacted a rule prohibiting the lowering of the helmet to initiate contact with an opposing player, even if it remains unclear how such a rule will be enforced.
Shazier’s tackle of Bengals wide receiver Josh Malone on Pittsburgh’s first defensive possession last December in Cincinnati appeared to be just a routine play seen hundreds of times every week. But then he dropped to the turf and required immobilization and was carted from the field and hospitalized until he was transported back to Pittsburgh to undergo surgery.
The immediate fear was that he wouldn’t walk again, but there Shazier was four months later on Thursday night moving slowly across the stage while clutching his fiancée Michelle’s hand to announce the Steelers’ selection of Virginia Tech safety Terrell Edmunds with the 28th overall pick.
It had to be somewhat sobering for the young men in their suits and tuxes being drafted into the league to see what indeed could be their future. It wasn’t too long ago Shazier was them, sitting in the Green Room at the Radio City Music Hall in 2014, hearing his name called and confidently stepping onto the stage for the traditional bro hug and photo op with commissioner Roger Goodell, new jersey in hand, his entire NFL career ahead of him.
Did he foresee this debilitating injury in his future? Not likely. But everyone saw him on Thursday night.
How many mothers and fathers watching the emotional scene decided in that very moment that their child would never set foot on a football field?
When the most routine of plays can cause such a devastating life-altering injury, it should give us all pause.
From the podium, Goodell rightly called Shazier “an extraordinary man who continues to amaze with his unyielding determination and his unwavering spirit,” and emotions suddenly got dusty for all of those in attendance and watching on TV.
“I’m truly blessed and humbled from all the prayers, love, and support that I have received,” Shazier tweeted afterward. “This is what keeps me going. Just continue to #Shalieve”
Shazier’s progress is reminiscent locally of former Jets defensive end Dennis Byrd, who suffered a career-ending neck injury in 1992 that left him temporarily paralyzed before he also later resumed walking. (Byrd tragically died in a car crash in 2016, a few years after his No. 90 was retired by Gang Green.)
But Shazier’s ongoing recovery needs to serve as more than simply an inspiration for fans and the league.
It needs to remain a reminder that far more needs to be done to make the game safer for its players.