The Pittsburgh Steelers knew Cam Heyward wouldn’t be an instant-impact player. With Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel starting, drafting Heyward was a look toward the future, not the present. But in hindsight, it was the best decision the Steelers could’ve made, finding their anchor of the d-line when Smith and Keisel had hung up their cleats. Appearing on Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast recently, former GM Kevin Colbert, the man who drafted him in 2011, explained why he became the team’s pick.
“He had an interesting senior year,” Colbert said in the episode that took place during Saturday’s draft. “It was an elbow injury and you played with a brace on from what I can remember. Which was very admirable because he wasn’t at a hundred percent…sometimes players that are getting into their senior year about to get drafted, they’ll tap out if they’re hurt. George Pickens, George coming off of an ACL, George fought to get back out on the field to help Georgia win a national championship.”
Heyward’s injury occurred late in the season, not before it like Pickens. It came in the 2011 Sugar Bowl as the Buckeyes looked to cap a fantastic 11-1 regular season. Heyward tore ligaments in his left elbow in the first half but kept himself in the game, sporting a brace that Colbert referenced, and still had a dominant performance. He finished the game with 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one pass deflection, and constant pressure in a 31-26 win over Arkansas.
Undergoing surgery after the season, the injury limited Heyward throughout the pre-draft process and prevented him from working out at the NFL Scouting Combine. But he was cleared to go through his Pro Day, which the Steelers attended. Colbert praised Heyward’s toughness and team-first attitude.
“He risked his draft status by doing that. You’re playing with an elbow brace on, that limited your effectiveness,” he said. “Not that you weren’t a first-round capable talent, but you weren’t a hundred percent. And that goes into the football character part of it.”
Hearts and smarts were the mantra of Colbert’s drafting philosophy and why he was largely so successful with his picks. He had his share of misses, especially later in his career, but that idea steered him toward players like T.J. Watt, Troy Polamalu, and Heyward.
Pittsburgh did its homework on Heyward and kept tabs on him throughout draft season. Though Colbert said he didn’t conduct private workouts, the team made another trip to watch a healthier Heyward go through the paces.
“I don’t wanna say it was a private workout. It was a separate workout from the Pro Day. And we were there, and he did great,” he said. “I believe you ran in the 4.9s for us and did the work that was necessary.”
Colbert and the Steelers made him the 31st pick of the 2011 NFL Draft. As the above photo shows, an emotional moment for Heyward and his family, heading back to the city he was born and the place where his father played college football.
Heyward sat on the bench his first two years, leading some to question Pittsburgh’s decision to make him the face of the draft class. But once Heyward became the starter, those questions ended, and he turned into one of football’s most dominant interior defensive linemen. Now, he has a chance to end his career in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Check out the whole episode below.
