Former Steelers DL Tyson Alualu recently jumped on the Not Just Football podcast with former teammate Cameron Heyward to talk about his time playing with the Steelers and the defensive line room that consisted of them, Stephon Tuitt, and Javon Hargrave.
During the show, Alualu was asked about going back on initial decision to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency back 2021 to come back to Pittsburgh to play with the Steelers instead.
“After the discussions of going back and forth with Pittsburgh, I mean, they knew I wanted to stay here,” Alualu said on Not Just Football, which aired on NFL on ESPN’s YouTube channel. “Jacksonville just kept upping my guaranteed money and it would be more money because it was Florida. So, that all played a factor in wanting to go back to Jacksonville and play there.”
With no state income tax in Florida and the Jaguars continually raising the guaranteed money on their contract offer to Alualu, going back to the team that drafted him 10th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft made the most sense from a financial perspective. However, Alualu and his family wanted to stay in Pittsburgh where he had spent the previous four seasons, having kids that were involved in school and sports as well as having a great relationship with his teammates and coaching staff.
Alualu ultimately tested positive for COVID-19 before getting on the plane to fly to Jacksonville to make the deal official, giving Heyward and DL Coach Karl Dunbar time to try and convince Alualu to re-sign with Pittsburgh.
“I was talking to Cam, Dunbar and they kept calling me saying ‘Hey, it’s not official. We still have a shot and we want you to stay here,'” Alualu said. “It’s been in discussions that me and my wife had that we were like ‘Is it the right move to go back? We want to be here.’ So Cam and Dunbar in my ear and planting that seed of it’s better to stay here… it just kind of made sense.”
Alualu mentioned on a previous segment of Not Just Football that Heyward wasn’t going to take no for an answer, continually badgering him with texts and phone calls to try and get his friend and teammate to stay in Pittsburgh for less money. Well, it appears that GM Omar Khan should bring Heyward into the room to help negotiate with upcoming free agents in the future because Heyward’s efforts paid off, getting Alualu to re-up with Pittsburgh.
Alualu’s career may not have ended the way he or Steelers fans may have wanted, Alualu suffering a broken ankle in 2021 and having his on-field performance drop off in 2022 in his age-35 season. However, he proved to be a key cog along Pittsburgh’s defensive line for several seasons, being a stout run defender who played younger than his years while also being a first-class teammate who encapsulated what it means to be a Pittsburgh Steeler.
You can watch the full episode below:
