Former Steelers star Ryan Shazier gives unique perspective amid Damar Hamlin, other injury scares

The Damar Hamlin injury rocked the NFL world and sparked a debate about the violence of the game and whether a player should play again following such a serious situation.

Hamlin was immediately tended to after collapsing on the field, receiving CPR and AED treatment on the field before being taken to the hospital in critical condition. In the weeks following his collapse, NFL teams around the league paid tribute after tribute, wishing him well on his recovery.

But while the conversation will continue, someone who has been through something similar offered some thoughts.

That’s former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, who suffered a spinal injury that ended his career after a particularly dangerous hit in 2017.

“Most people when they’re watching a game they almost take out the fact that some of these guys are actually people and they see us more like robots than just athletes, and they forget how easily we can be hurt,” Shazier said in an interview with Front Office Sports.

Shazier was just hitting the height of his career after entering the league in 2014 as a first-round NFL Draft pick out of Ohio State.

He made the Pro Bowl in both 2016 and 2017, illustrating his fast rise in the sport.

Then it all came crashing down with that fateful hit in a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 4, 2017. Shazier would have to learn how to walk again, so he knows a thing or two about the thought process the Damar Hamlin injury likely kicked off for the Buffalo Bills player.

So when he hears fans discussing Hamlin’s situation, he thinks some deference should be shown.

“It’s so crazy how well Tua (Tagovailoa) was playing at the beginning of the season, he was in the MVP conversation,” Shazier said. “And then he gets two big hits and now people are saying, ‘Hey, he might need to retire.’

“With Damar Hamlin, he made a routine tackle, stood up and then fell to the ground and now people are like, ‘Hey, man, he might be crazy if he want to play football again.'”

That that is the direction conversations typically go says a lot about how fans view the sport generally.

It also says a lot about the players involved.

“It just shows you how much guys really love the game of football, but it also shows you that in any given moment, to any given person that the game can be taken away from you,” Shazier said.