Even as Cameron Heyward enters his age-35 season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he still projects as one of their top contributors on the defensive side of the ball. He only played in 11 games last season, but he was still quite effective when he was on the field.
It was widely reported that Heyward missed the first two weeks of OTAs, before eventually showing up during week three. The thought was that he was looking for a contract extension, as 2024 represents the last year of his current deal.
Although he did end up showing up to OTAs, the Steelers aren’t out of the woods yet as far as the contract extension goes, as no deal has been reached. Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo was on 93.7 The Fan, and shared his thoughts on what training camp with Heyward might look like.
“Day one of camp, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cam Heyward reports, but does not practice and stages a hold-in. It will be interesting to see how that plays out because I’m not convinced the Steelers would be in any hurry to get a deal done stretching all the way to the regular season.” Fittipaldo said. “If you look at some of the successful guys who have leveraged contracts for the Steelers in recent years, Diontae Johnson for one, T.J. Watt for another, I think Cam Heyward can go that route.”
The main thing that is different in the Heyward case, when compared to that of Johnson or Watt, is his age. It’s a lot less enticing to commit to a guy like Heyward, who has had injury concerns for his age 36 and 37 seasons than it would be for someone in their prime. Fittipaldo believes that the Steelers want to see Heyward play post-injury before giving him a new contract, which could push things into the season, and the Steelers don’t negotiate in-season, so Heyward could be waiting until 2025 to get a new deal from Pittsburgh.
Heyward’s 2024 salary is $16 million, which ranks 20th for an interior defensive lineman. To me, that feels fair for what he is producing now, but with his career body of work, you can make the argument that he should be closer to the top ten.
The contract extension that Heyward would want would likely be a hefty one. He might look to both add some value to his 2024 contract and get long-term security with one last big contract. This is probably the final time Heyward will have any sort of financial leverage when considering his age, and he might pull every negotiation tactic out of his hat to maximize his value.
