Pittsburgh Steelers DL Cam Heyward is again his team’s nominee for Walter Payton Man of the year, hoping 2023 will be the year he finally wins the award. It marks the sixth time Heyward has been the Steelers’ selection.
The award goes to the player who impacts his community the most and use his platform to help others. That certainly defines Heyward, who has become a pillar of Pittsburgh on and off the field.
“Pittsburgh has meant so much to my family,” Heyward said, according to a press release from the Steelers. “To get to play in the league right next door to where my dad started his football career has been really special. It’s important to me to give back to the community that has blessed my family in so many ways.”
Heyward has long had his foundation, The Heyward House, support several causes around the city. It includes Craig’s Closet, honoring his late father with a program that provides dress clothes to kids who need it. Heyward also began a mini-library program, the Rufus and Judy Jordan Literacy Project that creates pop-up libraries around Pittsburgh.
For the second straight year, Heyward held “Cam’s Kindness Week,” a whole week devoted to helping different aspects of the community.
“I had a blast doing it last year and I wanted to do it again,” Heyward told Steelers.com’s Teresa Varley back in October. “I had the opportunity to go all over Pittsburgh finding different ways to give back.”
The week included visiting Children’s Hospital, The Caring Place to help kids who lost loved ones process their grief, and visiting Café Momentum, which helps gives kids guidance through culinary internships.
Earlier this year, Heyward was named the NFLPA’s Week Eight Community MVP and awarded $10,000 to his charity. He’ll now be eligible to win the award for the year, which would give him another $100,000 to his charity.
For being the Steelers’ nominee, Heyward will be given at least $40,000 for a charity of his choosing. The leaguewide Walter Payton Award winner will receive $250,000. Last year, Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott won. The last Steeler to win it was RB Jerome Bettis in 2001. Three other players in franchise history have also done so: DT Joe Greene, WR Lynn Swann, and RB Franco Harris.
“As a coach, you hope to have a guy like Cam on your roster,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said in a release from the team. “Someone you can point out to the younger players and say, ‘You want to be successful? Study film like this guy, compete like this guy, serve your community and your family like this guy.’ He’s done all the right things on and off the field consistently for a long time now. You hope your young guys absorb that.
The 2023 winner will be announced during NFL Honors in February.
