Father Time catches up with everybody. When it comes to peak athleticism, that usually comes in your 30s or 40s. Especially if you’re in the NFL. And fans will debate about it as soon as you turn 30. Pittsburgh Steelers DL Cameron Heyward is much closer to 35. And a lot of fans, unfortunately, are ready to see him out the door.
Due $16 million in 2024, the final year of his deal, Heyward is coming off a disappointing season. He played through injury the entire time, saying at the end of the year that it began in training camp. Then it got worse, Heyward missing time and having surgery. His numbers were down, even relative to his time missed. He was clearly not at 100 percent.
Now 34 years old, he’s constantly asked about retirement. He made it clear that he had no plans to retire, but acknowledged it’s a two-way street. With beat writers suggesting he would have to take a pay cut, though, he wasn’t thrilled. “Screw the people who keep talking about me getting a pay cut”, he said on his podcast. Former teammate Arthur Moats isn’t sure how wise that was, or how realistic the sentiment.
“I think he’s gonna have to come down off of that stance in order for this to keep going in terms of the Steelers and Cam”, he said on his own podcast. “I love your energy, I love what you are standing for, but when you say that publicly, that is dangerous. That is dangerous”.
It was admittedly a pretty strong stance. And the thing is, in a sport where there’s a salary cap, player salaries are of fan interest. There is only a finite amount of cap space to go around. The more space one player takes up, the less there is to spend on others.
It’s understandable for anybody to take umbrage at other people talking about their pay and what they’re worth. It can’t be a good feeling, though having millions in the bank account cushions the blow. But it’s part of the job. It does matter what you get paid because it affects what others get paid. And who your team can afford because everyone wants to be paid fairly.
“It’s a big difference between I know my worth, I’m gonna make sure I’m fairly compensated, versus, man, if ‘y’all even thinking about a pay cut, screw you”, Moats pointed out. “I think we also have to have to have the conversation of, okay, do you want to continue to play in Pittsburgh or not?”
“Those are the conversations that happen. He understands that. He’s not new to that”, he added. He’s watched teammates take pay cuts before, like Casey Hampton and Ike Taylor. Even Ben Roethlisberger took a pay cut at the end of his career. He’s seen teammates decline them, like James Harrison.
Will Heyward have to take a pay cut from the $16 million he is owed for the 2024 season? The Steelers will surely want to lower his $22,406,250 cap hit—which is not the same as what he’s owed. But there are ways of doing that. They did it last year with Mitch Trubisky, signing him to an extension while adding no new or guaranteed money for the 2023 season. That spreads the cap hit out while not making any hard commitments. But it still hits the cap in the future. Only a true pay cut takes it off the books entirely.
