Update: 11:11 AM– Cameron Heyward responded to this article on X Tuesday morning, saying “That is a bold face lie,” tagging P-G’s Gerry Dulac. “Just cuz I don’t answer your text doesn’t mean I don’t communicate with the team. You will not slander my name”
That is a bold face lie. @gerrydulac just cuz I don’t answer your text doesn’t mean I don’t communicate with the team. You will not slander my name
— Cam Heyward (@CamHeyward) May 21, 2024
–––
The Pittsburgh Steelers begin OTAs today and nobody expects DL Cameron Heyward to show up. This would have been news to the Steelers a week ago when reports first surfaced about his plans. According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he never mentioned it to them directly.
Heyward, a team captain, has always been a fixture at every stage of offseason workouts as a leader and example. He’s already skipped the first phases, however, and he made clear on his Not Just Football podcast that he won’t be at voluntary OTAs, either.
This is, apparently, the same time that the Steelers learned of this as well. As he mentioned that the Steelers had “a ‘discussion’” about Heyward’s contract, Dulac also wrote, “Heyward did not tell the Steelers about his threat to skip OTAs, preferring to announce it on his podcast, ‘Not Just Football’”.
Heyward has no more obligation to tell the Steelers he’s not attending than he does to actually attend, of course. They are called voluntary because they are genuinely voluntary. Formally, no team can penalize any player in any way based on their decision to not attend. And you probably rarely see 100 percent full attendance around the league, anyway.
A former perennial Pro Bowler and All-Pro, Cameron Heyward is going into his 14th season, all with the Steelers. A first-round draft pick in 2011, he is scheduled to earn $16 million this season. Over the course of his career, he has already pocketed $115,555,028.
However, Heyward is entering the final year of his contract and at age 35 has no job security beyond 2024. It doesn’t sound as though the Steelers are having any serious contract discussions at the moment. The fact that Heyward is opting not to attend OTAs suggests he doesn’t anticipate that changing in the near future.
It’s quite possible that the Steelers don’t want to commit to Heyward beyond this season, considering the circumstances. He spent the entire 2023 season playing injured, when he was on the field at all. Linemen’s bodies tend to begin breaking down at or prior to their mid-30s. Committing to a future now is not a safe investment.
One wonders the nature of this “discussion” the Steelers had with Heyward about his contract. Did they simply tell him, we’re not guaranteeing you anything beyond this season because we don’t know what you’ll look like?
I also wonder how the Steelers reacted to hearing indirectly that Heyward isn’t attending OTAs. They can’t and wouldn’t do anything about it, of course. But Heyward is always there, so this is a major departure.
Likely, it’s the only way he feels is in his power to demonstrate the seriousness of his desire for a new contract. But that doesn’t mean it will yield any positive results in his favor. He’s still under contract, still making $16 million, and is still going to play this year. I’d bet money on it—though not quite $16 million.
