Ryan Shazier might not be on the field for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year but he’s still making his presence felt in the locker room.
Earlier Friday, Antonio Brown shared a video he took today of Shazier doing pull-ups at Joe Haden’s locker. The video was captured by Twitter user @AroundThe412, so a hat tip to him.
Clearly a man who hasn’t skipped a lifting session in awhile.
Shazier has still been apart of the Steelers’ organization in ways other than his impact on the field. In the offseason, he worked with the scouting department and in a sense, now acts as an assistant coach for the rest of his group.
Ben Roethlisberger spoke about the impact Shazier still has in a recent interview with Chris Berman.Â
“He’s doing well. He’s here a lot, he’s here pretty much every day,” Roethlisberger said when asked how Shazier was doing. “It’s back to kind of normal in the sense of joking with him, teasing him.”
Roethlisberger said Shazier wants a sense of normalcy, despite all that’s happened in the last nine months, and to be treated like he was before his injury.
“Ryan doesn’t want us to feel that pity for him. Ryan wants us all to move on. He’s a coach…we tease him, we have fun and he gives it right back to us. To have him back here, to see that smile, to see his life, energy he brings to this team, it’s awesome.”
Shazier’s football future is still unclear. Based on what he’s last said publicly, his goal is still to return to the NFL. As difficult as that journey will be, the progress he’s made and continues to make is nothing short of remarkable. I wouldn’t count him out.
