MINNEAPOLIS -- As reporters, we don't typically allow ourselves to get sucked into a story and we try to keep our emotions in check. Doing so with the Ryan Shazier injury, however, has been tough.
While I won't pretend we're best buddies, we've talked at length on numerous occasions. Seeing him lying motionless on the turf at Paul Brown Stadium Dec. 4 left me with a sick feeling in my stomach. Seeing him at the Rooney Sports Complex in the following weeks in a wheelchair did nothing to take that away.
I had resigned myself to believing, nearly two months into this thing, the possibility was not only real, it was probably reality, that Shazier might never walk again.
I believed that until Thursday.
Moments after it was announced he had been released from the hospital unit in which he had been continuing his rehabilitation process, Shazier released a photo of himself on Instagram. Standing. He was doing so with help from Ben Roethlisberger. But he was standing nonetheless.
It made me think back to a conversation I had with Stephon Tuitt in the days after the injury occurred, recalling how shaken he was to still talk about his teammate and, more importantly, his friend, facing the possibility of life in a wheelchair.
"It affects all of us," Tuitt said. "We love Ryan. He's our brother. We're not worried about him playing football again. We just want him to be able to live a normal life."
His teammates had hope and belief that would happen.
Shazier's life is anything but normal right now. His days are filled with long workouts and therapy sessions.
But as a professional athlete -- I'm not going to use the word former there -- that is something with which he is accustomed.
I recall a conversation I had several years ago with Mike Tomlin at training camp. Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs had suffered a torn Achilles' tendon in the offseason. But the Ravens had already said they weren't going to place Suggs on injured reserve. They were going to leave the door open to him playing that season.
And he did.
As Tomlin told me when I asked him about what seemed like folly at the time, "You have to understand, guys like Suggs aren't normal human beings. You never want to turn the light off on guys like that."
Tomlin went on to say that giving an athlete such as Suggs a goal to shoot for made it something he could achieve. If the Ravens took that goal of playing again that season away from him, it might hurt Suggs in the long term. The coaches didn't want to take that goal, that hope he could return, away from him.
Shazier showed us Thursday he's cut from the same cloth. It's the same pattern that saw Rod Woodson come back and play in the Super Bowl in a season that began with him tearing his ACL in 1995.
In those days, an ACL rehab was supposed to take a full year. Woodson did it in six months.
I'm with Tuitt on this one. It doesn't matter to me if Shazier ever steps onto a football field again to play the game he grew up loving. He should just continue working to have a normal life.
But I'm also not going to say he'll never play football again. If that's one of the things keeping him working and progressing, great. If he's not going to give up on that goal, that hope, why should anyone take it away from him?
Thursday, Feb. 1 was a big day for Ryan Shazier. It was a big day for all of us. It was the day we all were reminded of the power of hope.
MORE STEELERS
• I ran into Charlie Batch today at the NFLPA press conference and asked him what kind of offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner might be. Batch, of course, was there in the QB room with Fichtner -- after his original tenure as WRs coach -- for three seasons before his retirement and keeps in close contact with the Steelers. "He has been there for Mike (Tomlin's) entire tenure. And he's been an offensive coordinator before," Batch said of Fichtner, who was a coordinator at Arkansas State and Memphis. "He's worked with the receivers, he's been a quarterbacks coach. Now, this is his opportunity as a coordinator." Batch wouldn't comment on any changes he thought Fichtner might make to Todd Haley's offense. But, he did add this, "I've been out of that room for five years, so it's hard for me to say. But everything is going to cater to Ben (Roethlisberger). That's the obvious answer." -- Lolley
• The NFLPA is ready to dig in against ownership when the current CBA is up in 2021. It's a message Steelers' union rep Ramon Foster has already been telling his teammates and something NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith reiterated Thursday. The players feel like they were pressured by the lockout to agree to what they believe is a bad CBA in 2011. And now, they want to press the owners to give more back in terms of money, how fines are levied and long-term health care issues. This one could get ugly. -- Lolley
• The Steelers continue to lock up their Exclusive Rights free agents. Wednesday, they signed offensive lineman Matt Feiler to a one-year deal. Thursday, it was punter Jordan Berry. But unlike last year, when they never really offered Berry any competition for the punting job, Matt Wile, signed to a futures contract in January, has the leg to challenge Berry. Berry averaged 43.2 yards per kick in 2017, which ranked 31st among NFL punters. He did place 26 of his 64 punts inside the 20 with just two touchbacks, but Wile has a big leg. He averaged 46.1 yards on 12 punts in 2016 for Arizona and Atlanta. -- Lolley
• Futures contract guys often fall by the wayside. But Dion Lewis signed a futures contract with the Patriots three years ago. And Mike Hilton did the same last year with the Steelers. One of the Steelers' futures contract guys is at least a little interesting because of who his father happens to be. Trey Griffey, a wide receiver out of Arizona, signed a futures contract with the Steelers earlier this week. His father just happens to be former baseball star Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey was with the Colts and Dolphins in 2017, getting released in training camp by Miami. Given his father's defensive prowess, Griffey should be able to track the ball in the air. -- Lolley
PENGUINS
• The name Derek Ryan should already be somewhat familiar to Penguins fans. He's the Hurricanes center who has scored two goals in three games against the Penguins this season. And he's also the latest rumored third-line center that Jim Rutherford has shown great interest in, according to a TSN report. The only knock on Ryan is his pedigree, or lack of one. He's an American who played four years for his hometown Spokane Chiefs in the WHL. Then he briefly went to Kalamazoo in the UHL, then to the University of Alberta, then to Austria, Sweden, Charlotte and finally landed in Raleigh last year, cracking the NHL at age 30. Ryan, who has been centering a line with Jeff Skinner and Lee Stempniak, has 11 goals and 26 points in 48 games this season. As a rookie last year, he had 11-18-29. Obviously, Rutherford has deep ties with the Hurricanes organization so a trade for Ryan would make sense. If nothing else, Ryan would make for a hell of a story. -- Chris Bradford
• There's a very real frustration, almost a bitterness, within the Penguins about their inability to make that trade. Rutherford once told me he took eight months to complete the Phil Kessel deal, so this isn't a man lacking patience. But this seems different. The market isn't great, but there's also a sense -- maybe involving a little sporting paranoia -- that the other 29 teams are tired of seeing the Penguins raise the Stanley Cup and would rather not be willing contributors. And if that sounds over the top, consider that it had been customary for all NHL Draft participants to congratulate that summer's champions ... until these past two. -- Dejan Kovacevic
• Ian Cole absolutely, unequivocally is not in Mike Sullivan's doghouse, I was reminded again this week. I also was reminded that Sullivan actually doesn't believe in doghouses. (Meaning for his players, not necessarily for dogs.) -- DK
• It's right there stitched on the side of Matt Murray's goalie pads: "Practice." Murray told me the other day at the Lemieux Sports Complex that he uses two sets of identical pads, one for practice and one for games. He wasn't sure if other goalies do the same thing, but breaking them in isn't his problem. He says he prefers pads right out of the box. The stiffer they feel to him, the better. -- Bradford
• Kris Letang and the Penguins have been going to battle against Alex Ovechkin for a decade in the NHL, winning three epic postseason meetings against the Russian superstar's Capitals. Ovechkin might still be leading the NHL in goals with 30, but Letang says there's been a difference in Ovie's game, a maturation. Letang says that Ovechkin is far better defensively then he was in his younger days. We'll see again tonight how far the Washington captain has come. -- Bradford
PIRATES
• An industry source told me that a trade of Josh Harrison is not imminent. That isn't much of a surprise considering the team reportedly most interested in Harrison — the Mets — has one of the worst farm systems in baseball. Oh, and it didn't help the Pirates' leverage when Harrison told Ken Rosenthal that he'd prefer to be traded if the club didn't plan to compete in 2018. -- Lance Lysowski
• I was told the Pirates were indeed in talks with a number of free-agent relievers this offseason — including Matt Albers, who signed with the Brewers — but they held off on making formal offers because of the trade negotiations involving Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole. -- Lysowski
• Methodical as Neal Huntington can be, there's never been much methodology to how he builds a bullpen: Find a whole bunch of fungible arms, issue invitations to Bradenton, and see who sticks. And for the most part, it's worked. But as he once learned the hard way -- and this was many years ago involving a player I won't name -- he found out that performance had better be rewarded. A reliever invited to camp on a tryout deal dominated the Grapefruit League from front to finish and still was summoned into the manager's office to be told he was cut. Well, the dude lost it, by all accounts. And this was a very large dude. He stood up, began shouting and gesturing angrily toward the GM, and it took some help to get him out of there. ... These jobs are tough. -- DK
PITT
• Recruiting at Pitt can be an issue, especially in football, because the school shares its stadium and practice facility with the Steelers, giving the team little on-campus presence. I spoke to former Pitt running back Dion Lewis this week about why he chose the Panthers and it had nothing to do with either of those things, which some kids would look at in a positive light. "I think what sold me was Coach (Dave) Wannstedt," Lewis told me of the Panthers' former head coach. "The first time I met him, I knew who I wanted to play for. He’s such a great guy, an honest guy, too. Being in the pros before that, that was great for me, a pro coach coaching college. That was what really got me." -- Lolley
• Nothing hit me harder about my visit to the Pete this week than the pride that remains for Pitt basketball. Sure, there's disappointment over all the empty seats. Even the Zoo doesn't fill up its allotted sections for the first time since the place opened. But there's also a vivid and shared understanding that the bar remains high, for both the program and the venue itself, which not so long ago offered our city's very best atmosphere for any type of sporting event. In addition, there's a bit of a ... resentment, if you will, for how quickly the public scope shifted down the road to Duquesne. They hold no animosity for the Dukes -- that would be weird -- but they're a little tired of the comparisons. This will be fun to watch play out. -- DK
PENN STATE
• I'm hearing that the number the Lions are looking to fill in the 2018 class is three. So, look for three signees next Wednesday when the class is complete. However, don't expect them to reach and sign someone just to sign them. This program is at the point where it can be ultra-selective, something that hasn't been the case in years past. -- Audrey Snyder
• The Big Ten might have some explaining to do, at least to wrestling fans. The Nittany Lions' dual against No. 2 Ohio State -- one that potentially is the most highly anticipated dual ever in Rec Hall -- could've sold out the Bryce Jordan Center. So why instead is it in the 6,500-seat Rec Hall as opposed to the 15,000-seat BJC? The conference determines start times for all teams and instead opted for Penn State vs. Iowa basketball to be played Saturday at 6 p.m. in the BJC. Don't look for a crowd of more than 8,000 there. But, maybe Cael Sanderson had some leverage here too, saying in the past he only wants his team in the BJC once per year so it remains sold out and special. They'll be there next weekend against Iowa. This time around it also all but guarantees very few Ohio State fans get in the door. -- Snyder
