'Inspiring' Shazier to 'Dancing with Stars?' taken at Rooney Complex (Steelers)

Ryan Shazier. – MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Ryan Shazier danced at his wedding in May of 2019. Soon, he could be dancing for millions on ABC's hit show Dancing with the Stars. 

In an interview with Variety.com, ABC Entertainment senior Vice President of alternative series, specials and late-night programming Rob Mills confirmed that Shazier was on the station's wish list for its upcoming season, slated to debut in the fall of 2020.

“Two years ago, [Shazier] was hit on a Monday Night Football game and doctors feared he was paralyzed, and he has learned to walk again," Mills told Variety. "Those are those great stories that are really what ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is all about — here’s somebody who has overcome something, and when you do that, you dance. He would be great.”

It all seems impossible.

Shazier suffered a spinal injury on Dec. 4, 2017 against the Bengals, and, as Mills notes, many feared he'd never walk again. But Shazier is walking. And dancing. And doing box jumps.

 

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DEDICATION = HARDWORK + PATIENCE

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So about that term "impossible" ...

"What's impossible to a lot of people, I feel as if athletes, we have that mentality that nothing's impossible," Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds was telling me Friday at the Rooney Complex when I relayed word of Shazier's connections to Dancing With the Stars. "And that's the exact approach he's taken. He's proven a lot of people wrong just because everybody's doubting him. And that's something he's been doing — proving doubters wrong — all his life."

No player I talked to on this topic Friday had heard Shazier was being considered for the show. But no player was surprised, either.

"There's a reason he made it to the NFL," David DeCastro was saying at his locker. "You have to be a mentally strong guy, and he's proven that even more so with what he's gone through. I don't think too many guys are surprised."

While Shazier has been unable to play since suffering that injury in 2017, he's been on the team's physically unable to perform list each of the past two seasons, allowing him to use the team's facilities and to be a part of the squad throughout practices and games alike. Shazier's dedication to the team and to the game of football post-injury just adds another chapter to an already remarkable journey.

"I think Shazier's been one of the most inspiring human beings that we've all met," Alejandro Villanueva was saying. "The love for football that he has, it's unbelievable, and it was all taken away through an injury that's very much part of our lives. To have him around is always a reminder of how much we love this game. Regardless of all the negativity that comes along with it, it is a sport that we all love and he's a reminder of that. And along with that, he's been a great teammate for all of us and he's somebody we can call a friend. It's been amazing to have him around. Not only is he an inspiration but he's a great friend."

DeCastro certainly agrees.

"He's just a lot of positive energy," DeCastro said. "That's the thing about Shazier, to stay strong through all he's been through, it's great to have him here and he's always been a great teammate — even before the incident. He's just one of those guys that you really look up to."

These feelings are understandably more raw for players such as Villanueva and DeCastro who once shared the field with Shazier, but the new guys get it, too. Shazier has worked one-on-one with Steelers' 2019 first-round pick Devin Bush throughout the season, stretching back to training camp and OTAs.

“Honestly, his presence is already something, you know?” Bush was telling me back in October. “Just him being here, him being able to lay eyes on me, that’s helped me a lot. Just understanding how he thought the game, how he played the game. It may not necessarily be the way that I’m good at doing it, but it’s good to know what somebody else is thinking of that caliber. Because you can always take and put something into your game like this.”

Minkah Fitzpatrick, a play-making safety whom the Steelers acquired in a trade with the Dolphins before the team's Week 3 matchup vs. the 49ers, feels Shazier's presence despite being a little more indirectly involved.

"I mean, it's awesome to have him around," Fitzpatrick was telling me. "One, he knows a lot about the game, so you can talk to him about the game, and also just off-the-field type stuff. You can talk to him about whatever. He's willing to share his thoughts, his experiences and everything else like that. It's definitely awesome to have him around."

There's no denying No. 50's continued impact on this organization, but where this latest storyline is concerned ... it's still a dancing show. And it's still a guy who at one point was feared to be paralyzed. Even for somebody of Shazier's resolve, that dynamic's gotta impress, right?

Of course it does ... but also not really. Because when it comes to Shazier, his teammates have long learned not to rule him out from anything.

"He's a guy with positive spirits, man, a guy that comes to work just like everyone else," Edmunds said. "You can tell that he's still fighting, still working, still trying to prove everybody wrong — prove all the doubters wrong, prove everything wrong and continue to do him ... To see him out there, I'm going to be laughing [if it happens]. But you know, whatever happens happens."

"I don't know much about Dancing with the Stars so I don't know what it entails or anything like that," Villanueva added. "Hopefully they consider him and they pick him if it's something that he wants to do, and he'll show everybody, he'll prove to everybody that he's able to overcome a lot of adversity. Because we've all witnessed it.

"He's always been really good, he's been such a natural at being just a baller that it's been pretty amazing to share a locker room with somebody like him."

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