Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Ryan Shazier has been dealing with a hamstring injury for a good part of training camp and by the sound of things, it doesn’t appear as though he’s close to resuming practice any time soon.
According to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Shazier attempted to go through the agility drills with his teammates on Monday, but had to leave early. The former first-round draft pick out of Ohio State reportedly tried walking through the drills, but it was just too painful for him to continue.
“Shazier grimaced afterward and walked back to the sidelines to watch the healthy players practice,” Fittipaldo reported after Mondays practice.
Shazier missed the Steelers Friday night preseason opener against the New York Giants and it doesn’t sound like he’ll play in the team’s second exhibition game Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons. At this point, we can only hope he’ll be healthy enough to play in the third preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts as that’s when most of the starters are expected to play quite a bit in preparation for the start of the regular season.
As all of you know, Shazier has had a problem staying on the field for long stretches of games ever since he was drafted. He did, however, play in 13 consecutive games last season, including the playoffs, after missing three straight games with a knee injury just ahead of the team’s bye week.
While Shazier remains sidelined, second year linebacker Tyler Matakevich has been receiving first-team reps in his place alongside fellow starter Vince Williams.
