The Steelers front office found a gem when they drafted Ryan Shazier with the 15th overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft. While Shazier never started more than 12 games in a single year over the course of his four seasons due to injury, he was still a back-to-back Pro Bowl player in 2016 and 2017.
Shazier’s freakish combination of athleticism, instincts, and play-making ability made him one of the best linebackers in the league, and he was only beginning to scratch the surface of his potential.
However, Ryan Shazier went down with a spinal cord injury in the second half of the 2017 season.