Pittsburgh Steelers DL Cameron Heyward joked about playing for the Cleveland Browns, and it did not go over well. It didn’t help that the quote came in an article that didn’t properly present it as a joke. Even after clarification, though, people still resented the implication. But the reality is Heyward may very well play in another uniform as early as 2025.
That’s what Mark Kaboly of The Athletic believes, who said that he doesn’t believe Heyward is the type of player who will go gracefully like Ben Roethlisberger or Troy Polamalu or Hines Ward when the Steelers say they are done.
“I think he’s proud enough that he would almost take offense to it”, he said of Heyward on 93.7 The Fan with Joe Starkey. “‘Okay, they don’t think I still have it? They don’t want me? … I’ll go show you. I’ll go to X team and show that I could still ball out’”.
Cameron Heyward is now 35 years old and preparing to play the final year of his contract at $16 million. He is engaging the Steelers in negotiations with an extension, but they don’t appear to be going anywhere. To show his seriousness, he skipped most of OTAs and has used his social platforms to amplify his case.
The tactics have worn thin on many Steelers fans, some of whom are ready to see him go. But it’s up to the Steelers to decide whether he is going anywhere or not. How much do they value him versus how another team might value him? Obviously, a lot of that depends on how he plays in 2024 in the absence of an extension.
“You’re relying on Cam to be very loyal to the organization”, Kaboly said. “You’re probably assuming that he would not [sign elsewhere] because he doesn’t want to go somewhere else. He wants to be that one-helmet type of guy. So you could move down that route, but I don’t know that you want that hanging over your head”.
“Somebody that’s meant this much to the program, I don’t know that you want to set that precedent with that type of a guy”, he continued, regarding the Steelers failing to sign Heyward to an extension and allowing him to leave in free agency.
“Saying, ‘Okay, let’s take advantage of your loyalty and we know you’ll just sign back’. Maybe with somebody else, that’s fine. … But I think Cam’s on a different level, that you shouldn’t, and they probably wouldn’t treat him that way. At least I hope that they wouldn’t treat him that way”.
Kaboly has a higher opinion of most, it seems, about how he expects Cameron Heyward to play this season. At best, most fans are approaching this year with caution as he returns from injury. Many of these fans watched Aaron Smith deteriorate around the same point of his career due to injuries.
And the reality is that non-quarterbacks of Heyward’s age simply don’t pull the kind of salary he is earning. We don’t actually know what compensation he is looking for, but he said he wants to play three more years. And he will probably want some guarantees in there that the Steelers might balk at.
I don’t know how this thing plays out, but it will be interesting to watch. I do think Heyward would be willing to play elsewhere next year if the Steelers give him that opportunity. And I won’t begrudge him in the slightest if that is the case—even if it is the Browns.
