There’s always a back story. Injuries. Surprises. Hirings. Firings. This one isn’t different.
Heinz Field. Warm weather. Eight mph wind. Panthers vs. Steelers during the 2012 preseason. The Panthers call shotgun inside the Steelers’ 40-yard line on third-and-11 in the third quarter. The Steelers show a two-man front and four blitzing linebackers. Four yards off the ball at the near hash is rookie Sean Spence, No. 51. He’s a blitzer. Looping across the hash and into the middle of the field, he’s changing direction, falling, left knee buckling, tearing, shredding. He’s writhing.
It’s at this exact moment when the Steelers plans suddenly shift. Spence was slated to be a nickel linebacker. He was quick. He could run. He could cover. He had range that the starting veterans didn’t. He was supposed to be the starting veteran in time, following the developmental model that most successful teams like the Steelers abide by. It all changed when his ACL and LCL tore and his kneecap dislocated. His career and the Steelers’ plans were on hold.
They shifted star safety Troy Polamalu down into the box in nickel packages, away from the center of the field, where he was at his best. It was temporary until Spence came back, if he came back.
He still hasn’t two years later. The Steelers need more options. Going into the 2014 NFL Draft with the 15th overall selection, they looked for help. When their time came, they hurriedly turned in their draft card. It read Ryan Shazier, linebacker, Ohio State.
“What we needed was a defensive playmaker,” head coach Mike Tomlin said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following the selection. “He fits the bill in that regard.”
He can run. He can cover. He can blitz.
His tape shows rare speed, blurringly timed at 4.38 in the 40-yard dash. He covers ground like a cheetah. Going in the opposite direction of a tight end, he hops from one direction to another and catches up, blanketing him and forcing the quarterback to hold the ball a second longer and go to his next read. He erases targets whenever and wherever, no matter what coverage is called.
Man. Zone. It doesn’t matter.
It’s like watching a movie in fast-forward. He plays at a different speed. Arms rapidly swinging, with his feet quickly bouncing, and hips suddenly flipping.
Shazier starts four yards from the line of scrimmage, slides toward the middle of the field, opens his hips back outside, re-opens them back inside, back outside again, and runs down the ball-carrier downfield. By the time a cornerback makes one complete turn, he makes three. It is easy. It is speedy.
His skill goes beyond covering. His speed and quickness serve the run defense well too.
Shazier runs past blockers. He circles blockers. He runs underneath blockers. He starts the farthest from the line of scrimmage, reads the ball-carrier, flows with him laterally, sees an offensive tackle coming to the second level and redirects inside. Then he lowers his inside shoulder to get past another blocker and assists on the backfield tackle.
He’s like Derrick Johnson, only smaller, measuring in at 6’1”, 237 pounds.
Shazier reads plays quickly. It only takes him a second to figure out where the ball is. Once he does, he sticks his foot in the ground, shakes second level blockers off-balance and cruises around them to track down the ball-carrier, again assisting and finishing the tackle.
He’s like a faster, heavier, healthier Sean Spence.
As Spence continues to rehab from his devastating injury, he takes a backseat to Shazier, the front page story in Pittsburgh. Shazier is a talented first rounder, and potentially a rookie starter. It’s rare to start for the Steelers as a rookie. Six have done it at least part-time. Three full-time.
Shazier could be the fourth, at least playing in nickel packages, rekindling the Steelers’ plans and kicking Polamalu back where he belongs.
