In Monday night’s regular season opening win over the Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier was forced from the game in the second half with a knee injury and while the former first-round draft pick out of Ohio State reportedly said afterwards that his removal from the contest was only precautionary, it appears as though he won’t practice on Wednesday.
According to Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network, Shazier isn’t expected to practice on Wednesday. However, a member of organization did tell her that there’s real chance Shazier will play Sunday in the Steelers home opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Against the Redskins Monday night, Shazier recorded six total tackles, one interception and a forced fumble in addition to defending a pass thrown to Washington tight end Jordan Reed in the end zone.
During his first two years in the league, Shazier has missed 11 regular season games due to various injuries. During his Tuesday press conference, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wasn’t able to provide much of an injury update on Shazier as he was currently visiting with the doctors at that time. However, David Todd of 970 ESPN Radio reported later on Tuesday that he saw Shazier at the Steelers practice facility and that he looked fine and that he said, “I’m good.”
The Steelers will release their first injury report of Week 2 later on Wednesday so we’ll have to wait and see if he indeed was able to practice.
