Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier broke down his pre-draft process during an appearance on The Brian Hess Show, and Shazier provided some interesting tidbits about where his mind was prior to the 2014 NFL Draft. Shazier ended up being selected No. 15 overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers (although he said they claimed they weren’t taking him), but there were two teams he didn’t want to end up with, including the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh’s AFC North rivals.
“I didn’t want to get drafted to Cincinnati, because they didn’t have an indoor practice today,” Shazier said. “It gets cold in Ohio, and they don’t have an indoor practice facility, I used to practice in this all the time, I didn’t want to do that. I was like at least Cleveland has an indoor practice facility.”
The Bengals didn’t have an indoor practice facility until last season, with the IEL Indoor Practice Facility holding Bengals’ practices for the first time ahead of Week Six in 2022. With Shazier attending Ohio State, he was well aware of how miserable Ohio weather can get, and he clearly didn’t want to have to schlep to the University of Cincinnati because owner Mike Brown was too cheap at the time to build the Bengals a facility of their own.
Shazier, who grew up in Florida, also didn’t want to play for the Dolphins due to the proximity to his hometown.
“I was from Fort Lauderdale. It would’ve been cool playing in front of family, but I kind of felt with me being in Ohio, it allowed me to grow, and I thought being down there it would’ve pulled me back down a little bit,” he said.
Neither the Dolphins nor the Bengals had the opportunity to draft Shazier and send him to a place he didn’t want to go, as the Dolphins didn’t select until No. 18 overall, and the Bengals’ first selection came at No. 24. Shazier said he thought he was going to end up with the Arizona Cardinals, but with the No. 27 pick, Arizona didn’t have the opportunity to draft him.
He didn’t think he was going to end up in Pittsburgh since he said linebackers coach Keith Butler told Shazier they weren’t going to draft him since they already had a linebacker. At the time, the Steelers had Lawrence Timmons, Sean Spence, Terence Garvin, and Vince Williams manning the middle of their 3-4 defense.
“Pittsburgh, when I came to visit, they told me they weren’t drafting me. They told me they weren’t drafting me because they already had a linebacker. That’s what the linebacker coach told me. He was like, ‘We already have a linebacker. You’re a great linebacker, I think you’re gonna do great, I think you’re going in the first round, I just don’t think we’re gonna draft you,'” Shazier said.
It’s an interesting look at the pre-draft process and how a player’s mind works ahead of the draft. For Shazier, it was fascinating to hear some stories of where he wanted to go or didn’t want to go and some inside baseball about how the draft worked. He said the Dallas Cowboys were prepared to take him at No. 16 overall, and that the Baltimore Ravens were also going to take him at No. 17 overall if he was available. The Cowboys ended up with All-Pro guard Zack Martin, while the Ravens took an inside linebacker in C.J. Mosley.
Shazier was a standout for Pittsburgh, and the team has yet to find an inside linebacker who can replicate what he was able to do on the field. He’s a special talent whose career was cut short, and thankfully he was a Steeler and not someone they had to face twice a year in Baltimore.
You can watch the full interview with Hess below.
