STEELY RESOLVE
A year after injury, Ryan Shazier is ‘chasing his dream’ one step at a time
Eric LeGrand winced. He was watching “Monday Night Football” in Week 13 last season — a year ago this week — when Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier lowered his helmet to tackle a Cincinnati Bengals receiver and then fell to the turf. Shazier reached a hand toward his lower back and tried to roll from his side onto his back.
“When he finally turned over and his legs went limp, I went, ‘Oh no, that doesn’t look good,’ “LeGrand recalled recently. “I can kind of read when accidents happen now.”
LeGrand is the former Rutgers linebacker who was paralyzed from the shoulders down while making a tackle in 2010. Watching Shazier, LeGrand said, “I felt like I knew exactly what he was going through right then, and what he’d have to go through on the road to recovery.”
Forty-eight hours after the Steelers’ come-from-behind 23-20 win in Cincinnati, Shazier underwent spinal stabilization surgery. LeGrand wanted to help. “I needed him to know he’s not alone in the battle,” he said. LeGrand shipped a box of apparel from his charity and a copy of his book to Shazier’s room at UPMC Mercy hospital. LeGrand included a short note:
Keep positive. Keep the faith. And work hard. Every spinal cord injury is different. None are alike. You can’t listen to doctors who say you’ll never walk again. They don’t know. Doctors told Shazier there was less than a 20 percent chance he would walk again.
In the year since Shazier was strapped to a backboard and carted to an ambulance at Paul Brown Stadium, he went from a hospital bed to a wheelchair, then a walker, then two canes, and then one. Now he wears a bracelet that reads “Walking Miracle.” Shazier moves along the Steelers sideline during practices and games, walking with only a slightly halting gait.
Steelers outside linebackers coach Joey Porter said Shazier jogged on Friday for the first time since the injury.
“He’s a hero to me,” defensive captain Cam Heyward said, “because most people aren’t built that way.”
For the past year, Shazier has hidden in plain view. He was in a Heinz Field suite twirling a Terrible Towel less than two weeks after surgery. He stood at a Penguins game. He walked across the stage at the NFL draft. He’s popped up everywhere around Pittsburgh, not shying from the spotlight, yet he has guarded his rehab and his personal life.
He has spoken publicly on few occasions. A Steelers official, speaking on Shazier’s behalf, declined an interview request for this story, saying Shazier still wasn’t granting interviews.
When Shazier has opened up, he’s been charming and optimistic. At an award ceremony in September, he said his first thought while lying on the turf in Cincinnati was about the Goldendoodle puppy he had just bought for his fiancée, Michelle Rodriguez. “I’m like damn, man, this dog is supposed to be coming this week,” he said. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to pick it up.”
They named the puppy Shalieve — Shay, for short.
Shazier also said he often finds himself thanking his teammates, and they never know why. He spent two months in the hospital, and aside from Michelle, who slept every night in a chair beside his bed, nobody made him happier than his teammates. “Y’all don’t understand” how much every visit meant, he said. Even if it was brief, “those five minutes made my whole day.”
Linebacker Arthur Moats, who spent 2014-17 with the Steelers, recalled first visiting the hospital with teammates a few days after Shazier’s surgery. “It was an experience we’ll never forget,” he said. “[Shazier] was the only one upbeat while the rest of us were super messed up about it.”
Steelers linebackers say losing Shazier brought a close group even closer. (Their text message thread, which includes some nowformer Steelers, is still active.) Wanting to keep Shazier involved, the linebackers cooked up an idea. They asked Shazier, who then asked his nurses, if they could have a weekly linebacker dinner at the hospital on Thursday or Friday.
The linebackers ordered steakhouse catering and packed into a room down the hall from Shazier’s at UPMC Mercy. They played cards, dominos and video games. They watched football on TV. They talked about life. Anything to distract Shazier during rehab and “get his mind off the grind,” Anthony Chickillo said.
“We’d go kick it at the hospital with him,” Moats said. “We brought the fun to him.”
One Friday, Shazier pushed back his wheelchair from the table and called for attention. As his teammates watched, he moved one of his legs. Then he did it again. The place went berserk.
“From there, every incremental improvement gave him more fuel to the fire,” T.J. Watt said. “It was cool to see. You could see the happiness it brought to him — and to all of us. It’s like, holy cow, he’s doing exactly what he said he was going to do, and it’s happening so quickly.”
Teammates said Shazier took the competitive fire he had on the football field and channeled it into rehab. Several Steelers watched a physical therapy session when Shazier was learning to use a walker and leg braces. “He was getting all hype for it as if he was about to go out there for a practice or a game,” Moats said, laughing.
On Fridays, Shazier showed off his progress. Each step looked like a small victory.
“But there was nothing small about those victories,” Vince Williams said. Officially, Shazier remains on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. His No. 50 practice jersey hangs in his stall in the Steelers locker room. He aided the scouting department during the offseason and has served almost as a liaison between coaches and players this fall. Porter said Shazier’s leadership role has grown despite not playing.
“His mind is always thinking, ‘I can’t play, but I can make someone else better,’ “Porter said.
When the Steelers signed free agent linebacker Jon Bostic this spring, he went out of his way to say he wasn’t there to replace Shazier. This summer, as Bostic learned the defense, he was confused about how to play behind the Steelers’ active defensive line. Shazier pulled Bostic aside and advised him to wait a beat, let the play begin to develop and then make the tackle.
“He said, ‘Hey, I know [coaches] say play it like this, but just be patient,’ “Bostic said.
Players describe Shazier as an asset in film study. Watt, the Steelers’ 2017 firstround pick, said Shazier’s “knowledge of the game just blew me away” from the start — he knew not only his job, but every other defender’s job, too. Tyler Matakevich called Shazier “one of the smartest players [he’s] ever been around,” a master of reading running backs’ tendencies.
“Immediately once he was hurt, he was trying to help us out,” Matakevich said. “You wanted to be like, ‘Hey, man, take care of yourself! We’ll be all right.’ That’s just the type of guy he is.”
Added Heyward, “It’s just been a blessing to have him here. We understand the fight he’s going through and the ways he’s been affected by this game, but the fact he’s willing to lend a hand and encourage guys to put their best foot forward — there’s a lot of humility in that.”
This year, the NFL instituted a new helmet rule that would have made Shazier’s hit illegal. When asked whether seeing Shazier get hurt made them play more cautiously, most Steelers linebackers said they’d made no major changes to their tackling styles, but the injury reinforced to them the importance of keeping the head out of harm’s way.
“That’s one [injury] that will stick with me for the rest of my life,” Watt said. Shazier’s sights haven’t shifted. The 26-year-old, a two-time Pro Bowler, tells teammates his goal is to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To suffer a serious spinal cord injury and jog within a year is improbable. To then be cleared by doctors and return to football may be impossible. But so far, everyone seems to know better than to tell Shazier there’s something he can’t accomplish.
“Who’s to say he can’t be the outlier?” Moats asked.
“To me, Ryan can do whatever he wants to do,” Williams said.
Those close to Shazier are letting him set his limits. His father, Vernon, didn’t respond to interview requests. His agent, Jimmy Sexton, didn’t either. His closest friends, Alonzo Bowens and Jerome Howard, said they’d check with Shazier before talking and didn’t reply again. The message was clear: They won’t speak for him. He will say when he’s ready. He will say what’s next.
Shazier’s rookie contract, which includes a $8.718 million salary this season, expires in a matter of months. When teammates talk about his Steelers career they alternate between past and present tense. Shazier could transition into a second career as a motivational speaker, like LeGrand, or he could pursue coaching fulltime. But he doesn’t seem ready to move on.
“Ryan is still chasing his dream,” Porter said. “He’s always trying to put himself in a situation to come back. We don’t know how that journey is going to end, but at the same time you know he’s not going to stop trying to chase it. That’s the beautiful thing. He hasn’t lost his fight at all.”
“The guy was meant to play football,” Heyward added. “I’m just excited for his comeback.”
In the year since Shazier’s injury, he went from a hospital bed to a wheelchair, then a walker, then two canes, and then one. Now he wears a bracelet that reads ‘Walking Miracle.’ Shazier moves along the Steelers sideline during practices and games, walking with only a slightly halting gait.