Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward once again wore eye black to honor his late father, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, despite receiving a $5,787 fine last week for violating the NFL’s uniform policy.
The eye black, which we have seen the former first round draft pick were multiple times now, says “Iron” under one eye and “Head” under the other.
Because Heyward is now a multiple time offender, he now faces an $11,576 fine this time around for a repeat violation of the rules regarding the display of personal messages by a player.
Being as the NFL is using the month of October to draw awareness to breast cancer, Heyward has chosen to honor his father, a former NFL fullback, who battled cancer before his death in 2006.
According to ESPN, Heyward will appeal his original fine from last week. Additionally, he isn’t sure if he will be fined again for his second violation. As previously mentioned, Heyward displayed that message on his eye black last season and to our knowledge, he wasn’t fined.
Following the Steelers 25-13 win over the Cardinals, Heyward indicated that we haven’t seen the last of that personal message on his eye black as he intends on honoring his father throughout the month of October
“That’s the goal,” Heyward said. “There have been others, and I’m not going to name any names, that have worn it to support cancer. I don’t want to get involved in it, but it’s bigger than me. I’m not going to shy away from the fight against cancer, and I’m going to support them in any way possible.”
Heyward signed a five year contract extension with the Steelers on July 21, 2015. He can easily afford any fines handed down by the league and we salute him for honoring his father.
