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Ryan Shazier knows the Pittsburgh Steelers better than anybody. The former two-time Pro Bowl linebacker spent all four of his NFL seasons playing in Pittsburgh after he was selected with a first-round draft pick in 2014. Shazier emerged as one of the top players in the league after a prolific career at Ohio State, starting 41 of his 46 games while notching 299 tackles, seven interceptions, seven fumbles forced, and three fumble recoveries. Following his final season in Pittsburgh — his career ended due to a spinal cord injury — Shazier was named the 47th-best player in the NFL in 2018.
Fast forward nearly a decade later, and the Steelers are searching for their first playoff win since Shazier was there. The franchise is currently on a seven-game postseason losing streak — longest in franchise history — and recently parted ways with longtime head coach Mike Tomlin .
The Steelers will embark on a new era with Mike McCarthy as its new head coach and Shazier detailed why the Pittsburgh native is a "great fit" for the Steelers moving forward.
"I think that he's a great fit for the city because he's from Pittsburgh," said Shazier in a one-on-one interview. "He's a guy that understands the blue-collar feel of the city. He wants to build a team, a tough team, just like the city of Pittsburgh. He has tougher receivers, we have a downhill running style with Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle now. I think that he understands what it what it means to win a Super Bowl here in Pittsburgh. He was born here. He's seen us win Super Bowls here. I think a kid from the city of Pittsburgh to win a Super Bowl in the city of Pittsburgh, who knows better than someone who grew up in it."
Pittsburgh will hope that McCarthy can end the franchise's longest playoff win drought in team history. Under Tomlin, the Steelers never suffered a losing season, going 19 consecutive years without one. However, they not only struggled to win playoff games in recent years, they struggled to be competitive in them. Five of Pittsburgh's seven recent postseason losses were by double digits.
The Steelers are still awaiting Aaron Rodgers ' official decision on whether or not he'll return for a 22nd season in the NFL. If Rodgers returns, he'll be the oldest player in the NFL as he'll turn 43 years old in December. Rodgers led Pittsburgh to a division title — their first since the 2020 season — and had a solid debut year with the team. Rodgers threw 24 touchdowns against just seven interceptions for a 94.8 passer rating, his best mark since the 2021 season, his last MVP year with the Green Bay Packers .
Rodgers previously teamed with McCarthy to help lead the Packers to a Super Bowl during the 2010 season. They teamed up together for 14 years before McCarthy's dismissal before the end of the 2018 season.
If Rodgers does not return, the Steelers have an insurance policy in third-round draft pick Drew Allar . Allar starred at nearby Penn State as a three-year starter before suffering a season-ending ankle injury in his final year in college.
The Steelers and Shazier have optimism that they're heading in the right direction. Time will tell if they produce the results on the field.
Courtesy of Ryan Shazier, Red Bull
Leading into this weekend, Shazier is teaming up with Red Bull for the "Wings For Life World Run" that will take place on May 10 in the morning. The event is for the purpose of raising money for research and help find a cure for spinal cord injury, something that hits close to home for Shazier after his own injury back in 2017. The 33-year-old had to learn how to walk again following a spinal cord injury that ended his NFL career.
Shazier announced his retirement from football in 2020.
"This is my first year doing it," said Shazier. "I have my foundation, and we're here in America, and we started small in Pittsburgh, and now we're expanding to Pennsylvania, all of Pennsylvania, all of West Virginia, all of Ohio. Hopefully, we'll be able to be global, like Wings for Life. But as we continue to grow, I was just learning more and more about different avenues to support individuals with spinal cord injuries, and I found out about Wings For Life and what they do."
The event is unique in that runners can participate in the event anywhere — no matter where they're located — with all entry fees donated to research relating to spinal cord injuries. The "Wings For Life World Run" will start at 7:00 AM ET.
Shazier detailed how important this cause is for him, considering his own foundation has the same purpose.
"It's huge for me," said Shazier. "I have a foundation that I'm a part of pretty much every single day, that raises money for individuals with spinal cord injuries. We've been around, we're a smaller team, but we've been around about five years, and we surpass over a million dollars that we've given away last year. Hopefully, we'll inch towards that $2 million number soon. But we give our grants to individuals with spinal cord injuries up to $15,000 and their family $15,000 so that they can find an independent and meaningful life for themselves. We don't define that, we kind of meet them where they are."
Although finding cures and raising money for spinal cord injuries and research is a big part of Shazier's life, he said his overall objective moving forward is to spread "positivity."
"I would say my main objective in my life is to provide positivity and just let others know that no matter what we're dealing with, we can overcome it," said Shazier. "Just because I had a spinal cord injury doesn't mean that I can't relate with somebody else that's going through something difficult as well. I want to be able to show others that no matter what we're dealing with, we can overcome it. Obviously, my spinal cord foundation, the Ryan Shazier fund, is to fund my focus on helping individuals with spinal cord injuries. But I enjoy speaking to others as well when it comes not only overcoming adversity, but just having a positive mindset through it. Because I made it to the NFL, and people told me I had less than a 1% chance to make it.
"Once I got to the NFL, people would tell me I'd never be a Pro Bowler, or I wasn't good enough to play it Ohio State," Shazier continued. "All those are 1% odds. But I had a positive mindset. I continue to push it, and I never got it myself. And I say I had the same mindset when I went into my injury with my spinal cord injury, and they told me I had a 20% chance of walking. I had better odds of walking than making it to the NFL, so I was just like, 'Hey, I'm gonna give it everything I got.' And I got to this point where I'm at now."
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