Cameron Heyward epitomizes the Pittsburgh Steelers in many ways. They knew this the second they drafted him, the son of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward. He has more than lived up to the expectations set before him, rising to a borderline Hall of Fame player. But he is approaching the end of his career, and that can get messy in the best of circumstances.
The 2024 season marks the last year of Heyward’s contract, in which he is set to earn $16 million. He has made it very clear that he plans to play for three more seasons, however, and he vowed to play in 2025. In essence, he puts it in the Steelers’ court whether that’s in Pittsburgh or elsewhere.
There is still plenty of time to work out a new contract, but the closer we approach the regular season, the closer we get to the possibility of him having the opportunity to explore the open market. Mark Kaboly of The Athletic suggests that the Steelers are betting on Heyward’s unwillingness to go anywhere, however.
“Once you get past September 8 and that start of the season, it’s anybody’s guess at that point”, he said on 93.7 The Fan about the possibility of Heyward playing in a uniform other than the Steelers in 2205. “You don’t know what the season’s gonna look like. You don’t know what the Steelers would offer him.
“I think what they’re trying to do is take advantage of his loyalty. Honestly, that’s what I truly believe, is, ‘Okay, let’s see what you can do this year. We know you’ll sign back this year. You don’t want to go anywhere else. So we’ll save our rear ends here of any risk and we know you’ll sign back next year’”.
That is not an entirely unfair assessment of the situation. Cameron Heyward is 35 years old and coming off a significant injury. He wasn’t quite the same player when he returned from that injury in the second half of last season. The Steelers reasonably would prefer to see how he gets through this season before making another commitment.
After all, football isn’t about how much you like somebody. You pay players who make plays, and if Heyward’s play diminishes then you cannot simply pay him out of charity. Not with a salary cap, anyway, because the Steelers have other players to pay.
Kaboly did reiterate his belief that Heyward and the Steelers will “get it done” at some point. He suggested the possibility of them using incentives in his contract, which offer some protection against diminished play. I have written about this myself and believe it makes a lot of sense in this case.
Prior to the 2023 season, Cameron Heyward went to six consecutive Pro Bowls, including four All-Pros. All of this after his only other major injury of his professional career in 2016. He is widely regarded as one of the great 3-4 linemen of his era, and he put up double-digit sacks in both 2021 and 2022. But can he play in 2024 and beyond as he did then?
