Despite suffering a career-ending spinal injury in 2017, former Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier has made sure to stay around football.
Shazier was seen assisting Pittsburgh’s scouts in 2018, and he later made the move to coaching, contributing as a Steelers intern on offense in 2024. Then, in 2025, he moved to his current role: an alumni relations assistant, as listed on Steelers.com.
“It’s really fun to catch up with some of the former players and also still be involved in the organization,” Shazier
said in a May 8 interview with Kyle Odegard. “I still live in Pittsburgh, and it really runs through my blood. To be able to still be a part of the organization and try to help us win another Lombardi in whatever aspect they ask me to do, I try my best. I try to raise awareness around the brand.”
Shazier said his new role is a better fit for him. “The on-field stuff is amazing, and I really did enjoy it,” he said. “But a better fit for me and where I’m at in my life is more of the off-field stuff, being more engaging with the fans, the sponsors.”
“Most people don’t have this type of support when it comes to anything in life,” Shazier said of the Steelers organization. “Just to be able to have the (Rooney) family support me, the organization support me, have the city behind me through the whole injury — I feel like they’ve seen me grow up in my life.”
Odegard asked Shazier about a number of Steelers and Ohio State-related storylines in May. One of those topics was Mike Tomlin, Shazier’s former Steelers coach, stepping down in the 2026 offseason.
“It is bittersweet seeing (Tomlin) step away from the game,” Shazier said. “When I think of an NFL head coach, that’s who I think of. He’s a great leader. Unfortunately I got hurt during his stint, but I definitely felt like we could have won a Super Bowl when I was there. What happened to me (in 2017) really messed up the morale for a lot of the team.”
Shazier was also asked about the Steelers’ recent draft day controversy, where the team was on the phone with USC’s Makai Lemon in the first round before the Eagles traded up to draft the wide receiver in front of Pittsburgh. A similar situation happened to Shazier during the 2014 NFL Draft, when Pittsburgh drafted him while his agent was on the phone with the Dallas Cowboys.
“I feel like it happens more than people expect,” Shazier said, “but the cameras were right in front of Makai when it happened.”
But in Shazier’s case, he was the one who ended up on the Steelers. “It was a crazy moment for me,” he said of 2014, “because my dad texted my uncle, ‘Hey, Ryan is going to the Cowboys.’ My uncle was a huge Cowboys fan. But I’ll tell you this: I was much happier to be drafted by the Steelers than the Cowboys. I was a defensive fan. The Cowboys were America’s Team and that’s cool, but (Pittsburgh) had Coach Tomlin, the Rooney family. I already knew about that stuff, and me and my dad liked their defense growing up. It would have been cool either way, but I’m truly thankful where I ended up at.”
You can read Shazier’s full interview with Odegard HERE.
