Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held his weekly press conference on Tuesday and it included him being asked a few strange questions during the half-hour session.
One of those wacky questions from the media included Tomlin being asked if linebacker Ryan Shazier could potentially be moved to safety being as he’s suffered so many injuries thus far during his career in addition to his backup Vince Williams playing well when asked to fill in as a starter. I’m not sure how Tomlin was able to keep a straight face during his response.
“No, I’ll just let you guys continue to speculate,” Tomlin said in regard to speculation that Shazier will switch positions down the road. “We’re comfortable with the division of labor and where we have the guys playing and Vince is doing a heck of a job for us right now in relief of Ryan.”
For some reason, several Steelers fans continue to want Shazier to move to safety from inside linebacker and that really has been the case for the most part ever since he was drafted. Sure, Shazier has suffered quite a few injuries so far during his career, but when he has been healthy and on the field, he’s played like a first-round draft pick as a whole.
Moving Shazier to safety with the hope that it would result in him being injured less is quite a confusing suggestion as the Steelers like both of their safeties to be interchangeable and thus play occasionally inside the box just like a linebacker would.
Shazier, by the way, is likely to miss the Steelers Sunday road game against the Miami Dolphins due to him still rehabbing the knee that he injured early in the Week 4 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. When he does return to action, you can rest assured that he’ll be the team’s starting inside linebacker.
