One of the biggest non-personnel questions of the offseason no longer appears much of a question: what will the Pittsburgh Steelers do with DL Cameron Heyward’s contract? Now weeks into the new league year, the answer appears to be: nothing.
Even Gerry Dulac appears to concede as much, which is significant, given his earlier position. Asked about restructuring Heyward’s contract yesterday, Dulac said, “I don’t think they will”. He added when replying to another question, “I think they are going to leave [Heyward’s contract] just the way it is”.
Heyward holds a $22,406,250 million salary cap hit in 2024. Of that total, $16,000,000 is a base salary for the season, the rest proration from signing bonuses and restructures. The Steelers cannot touch or move that portion of his cap hit, but they can work with the $16,000,000.
According to our last salary cap update, the Steelers are roughly $13,000,000 below the cap. They managed to save some cap space in the trade for CB Donte Jackson, parting with Diontae Johnson’s contract. That move alone may have proven enough to avoid touching Heyward’s contract unnecessarily.
Of course, the Steelers still have substantial future cap expenditures that they must account for. They still have to create roughly $5 million or so in cap space, depending on what other moves they make. In other words, they may still revisit Heyward’s contract in some way, shape, or form some time down the line. That includes the possibility of a contract extension.
The Steelers already made it abundantly clear that Heyward remains in their plans, including a message right from the top. “I’ll just say this, we want Cam on our team this year and maybe going forward”, owner Art Rooney II told reporters back in January.
Heyward is building a borderline Hall of Fame resume, but it’s unclear how much time he has left to play. He turns 35 in May and is coming off a major injury. Can he return to his previous form? The reality is he is at the age at which many defensive line’s bodies begin to betray them.
Outside of the 2016 season, Heyward had been a model of durability until last season. He suffered a groin injury in training camp that lingered all season, tearing it off the bone in the opener. Understandably, he never played at 100 percent and required offseason surgery.
Just a year after posting 74 tackles, 14 TFLs, and 10.5 sacks, Heyward only managed 33, 6, and 2. He only played about 60 percent of the snaps that he did the previous year, but even so, he clearly did not play up to his own standards.
If Heyward can play up to his previous level, then he is more than worth the $16,000,000 the Steelers owe him. But they’re betting against Father Time at this point, and understandably, Heyward doesn’t want to hear it.
