After a hiatus from his show, Not Just Football, Cameron Heyward is back with a new YouTube channel for his show just in time for the 2024 NFL Draft with a special episode coming on Saturday with a great lineup of Steelers guests. In his first episode on the new channel, Heyward gives an offseason update on his status after having surgery in February to clean up some of the injuries he suffered during the season.
“Offseason is going pretty good. Got my training going good after the surgeries,” Heyward said. “The workouts are going great, working my ass off making sure I’m in good shape…It’s fun to be able to do everything that I’m accustomed to doing. Through the season it was just like, hey man, let’s see if we can get some get-offs ’cause it’s a little rough right now. Let’s get to the game. But feeling good, working out with Tyson Alualu like I’ve done for the last, what, five or six years.”
Heyward was injured last season during Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers and didn’t return until Week 9. Even when he returned, he was very clearly not his normal self. He was still the best run defender on the team, but he couldn’t run very well or make many of the movements that you typically see from him. Following the offseason surgery, Heyward posted on X, “Done doing stuff on 1 leg that guys were doing on 2 legs lol Can’t wait to get back to myself.”
It would appear that he is finally starting to feel like himself again.
“I feel like I’m finally starting to feel back, like I’m getting back to myself,” Heyward said. “I might have took like a week and a half, two weeks [off], it wasn’t anything crazy, but it was just trying to continue to keep lifting as I go into these surgeries. That way, I’m not falling behind and I’m not at a disadvantage once I come out of this.”
Having Heyward back to his normal self will be a huge boost to the Steelers defense and particularly the defensive line. It is one of the top-five needs for the Steelers entering the draft, though the starting lineup is taken care of with Larry Ogunjobi, Keeanu Benton, and Heyward. Depth, as well as the future of the unit, is the big reason why the position could be a surprise over the first two days of the draft.
Rotational player Armon Watts departed in free agency and the Steelers brought in veteran DL Dean Lowry to help bolster the unit. Still, it would be nice if soon-to-be 35-year-old Heyward didn’t have to play 80-percent of the snaps. It would also be nice to get a young and talented DE in the room while Heyward is still around to help mentor and pass on the tradition that Aaron Smith, Chris Hoke, and Brett Kiesel helped pass on to Heyward.
The 2023 season was the first time in six-straight years that Heyward wasn’t either a Pro Bowler, an All-Pro, or both. He had just 33 total tackles, 25 solo tackles, two sacks, and six tackles for loss in 2023, which is well below his average production over the past five seasons.
If he can get back to the level of play and production he has been known for over his career, then the Steelers defense has all the pieces to be a top unit in the league.
