If Keeanu Benton is the future of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defensive line, what is Cameron Heyward? Perhaps that is the question the front office is trying to figure out. The 35-year-old is going into his 14th NFL season on the last year of his contract. Does he have a future in the Black and Gold beyond the 2024 season? And what does that have to do with the second-year nose tackle?
“I think Keeanu Benton is primed for a big Year 2, and I think he would be the domino that allows the [Steelers] to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got a game-changing, ball-chasing, high-motor, disruptive force again at D-tackle. It’s the guy that we took in the second round a year ago’”, Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said yesterday on 93.7 The Fan.
In other words, Batko is speculating about the possibility that the Steelers move on from Cameron Heyward because they view Benton as their future dynamic playmaker along the defensive line. Of course, the Steelers prefer to have more than one. For a while there, they had three with Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, and Javon Hargrave. Just take a moment to consider how superb that line was.
Heyward has clarified that he believes he has a lot left in the tank and wants a new contract. He also didn’t sound as though he expects to have a new contract to sign anytime soon. Indeed, he didn’t sound overly confident there would be one before the season starts. Which is interesting if you consider how little any other defensive lineman, not excepting Benton, has done.
“If Cam’s got any leverage at all, I don’t think it’s necessarily what he’s done to this point”, Batko said. “It’s probably the lack of what a lot of other guys have done. While Benton looks like he might be a success story as soon as this September, DeMarvin Leal, Isaiahh Loudermilk…and Larry Ogunjobi, probably not trending along those same upward lines”.
Benton flashed a lot of potential as a rookie last season, but he had a limited impact. He has to translate his skills into production, finishing the plays he starts. Tuitt, and even Heyward, faced similar criticism in the early goings of their careers.
The problem is that, while nobody else on the roster is Heyward, many wonder if Heyward can still be Heyward. Now 35 years old and coming off an injury, he is at that point where even the great linemen begin to fall off.
There is a limited history of extensive high-quality play by defensive linemen over the age of 35. Few even have the opportunity to play that long, and fewer still do so as highly compensated individuals. Heyward doesn’t want to hear any of that, though, and I wouldn’t want to, either. For him, Benton is his complement, not his replacement.
And Heyward and Benton don’t play the same position, of course. Add the fact that you need more defensive linemen and I’m not sure Benton has much to do with Heyward’s future.
