Cameron Heyward is aging like fine wine in the NFL.
Entering his 13th season, Heyward is playing some of the best football of his career, coming off back-to-back 10-plus sack seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He’ll turn 34 this season, which puts him at an age where defenders typically slow down to a grinding halt along the defensive line. Yet, Heyward is showing no signs of slowing down.
Knowing that, it’s not surprising to see that Heyward nearly cracked the top five of CBS Sports’ 30 players over 30 rankings Wednesday, landing at No. 7.
Heyward finds himself behind Kansas City’s Travis Kelce, Los Angeles’ Aaron Donald, Las Vegas’ Davante Adams, San Francisco’s Trent Williams, New York’s Aaron Rodgers and Philadelphia’s Lane Johnson in the rankings from CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin. Heyward is the third-oldest player in the top 10 of Benjamin’s rankings behind Rodgers, Williams and Philadelphia’s Jason Kelce, who is the same age as Williams at 35.
“Profoundly underrated on a national level, Heyward isn’t just good at everything along Pittsburgh’s front, racking up 53.5 sacks and 122 QB hits over the last six years; he’s also the heartbeat of Mike Tomlin’s locker room,” Benjamin writes regarding Heyward’s ranking at No. 7 overall.
That ranking falls in line with other national outlets 30 over 30 rankings this summer. Pro Football Focus ranked Heyward fifth, while the 33rd Team placed Heyward 10th.
The Steelers’ star and team captain is coming off his second-straight 10-plus sack season, recording 10.5 last season. He has put together a remarkable stretch of dominance that includes six straight trips to the Pro Bowl and first- or second-team All-Pro accolades in four of the last six seasons.
As Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said earlier this offseason, Heyward loves to defy the odds. That’s what he continues to do season after season as he puts together a career that will one day make the case for a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Don’t expect Heyward to slow down anytime soon, either, even if some questions about a future retirement continue to pop up.
Heyward remains a force for the Steelers and really isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Assuming the defense can have a bit more luck from a health perspective in 2023, Heyward should continue to see a lot of one-on-ones in the trenches, allowing him to dominate week after week.
That dominance alone makes him one of the best players in the NFL, period, let alone one of the best age 30 or older.
