Pittsburgh Steelers DT Cameron Heyward is the heart and soul of the Steelers. His presence on the field makes the defense better, and throughout his 13-year career, he has been one of the most consistent players not only on the Steelers but also in the NFL. Tomorrow against the Arizona Cardinals, Heyward has a chance to pass or tie his former teammate James Harrison and become second in sacks throughout Steelers history. Heyward currently has 79.5 sacks, one behind Harrison at 80.5.
Yesterday, Heyward sat down with Missi Matthews on the Steelers YouTube page and spoke about the honor it would be to pass or tie his former teammate on the all-time list.
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for James Harrison,” said Heyward. “There’s guys on the list that you’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we’re even in the same context as those guys.’ It’d be an honor to pass him, it’d be an honor to tie. But at the end of the day, I’m just trying to get up there.”
Heyward is already in good company, surrounded by Steelers legends on the sack leaderboard. Although sacks were not an official stat until 1982, Pro Football Reference has gone back and tallied up sacks from before 1982. With those pre-1982 sacks, Heyward is currently third all-time on the Steelers list with legendary names like L.C. Greenwood (78 sacks) and Joe Greene (77.5 sacks) right behind him.
Given his play over his 13 years in the Black and Gold, Heyward definitely deserves to be up there with those legends. With his play not showing any signs of slowing down, he will certainly eclipse Harrison at some point. While it’s unlikely Heyward will pass T.J. Watt, who is in his prime and already at 91 sacks, Heyward can put some distance between him and Harrison in the coming years.
The big question is whether Heyward will be able to hit 100 sacks. At 34 years old, his age would say no, but Heyward is aging like fine wine, so it’s certainly a possibility. But for Heyward, personal accolades are nice, but he wants to win a Super Bowl, something that has eluded him throughout his impressive career.
To win that Super Bowl, he and the Steelers need to get ready for a stretch run to make the playoffs, and then win a playoff game. According to Heyward though, everybody on the team is “locked in.”
It would be a storybook season for Heyward if he can pass Harrison on the Steelers’ all-time sack leaderboard and win his first Super Bowl in the same season which saw him battle a nasty groin injury that had him on injured reserve. It will be hard, but it is certainly possible, especially with the way Heyward and the defense have been playing this season.
