The Pittsburgh Steelers contract saga with Cameron Heyward has been one of their biggest stories this offseason, as Heyward has made it clear he wants a new contract and missed the first two weeks of OTAs in response to not having an extension. Heading into training camp, it’s once again become a story given that Heyward still doesn’t have a new contract and could hold-in, and Mike DeFabo of The Athletic examined the layers of what will go into extending Heyward on 93.7 The Fan with Josh Rowntree.
While DeFabo acknowledged in the past that Heyward has been a top-five talent, the Steelers need to pay for him for what he will do, not what he has done, and there’s question marks with his age and injury history.
“What he is right now, is that I think he could still be a very good defensive linemen. Even playing basically on one leg last year, his run stats were good last year. But he’s also 36, he’s coming off two surgeries, and you have to ask yourself, even if Cam Heyward has an iron will and wants to play forever, is his body going to listen to that and is his body going to hold up at this stage in his career,” DeFabo said.
He said that a 1-2 year extension makes the most sense for both sides as the Steelers can spread out Heyward’s cap hit in 2024 and keep him in the Black and Gold.
“I think what would make a lot of sense for both sides is you extend Cam maybe just one year if he’s willing to do it. Maybe it has to be two for him to be willing to do it with a void year somewhere in there. That way you can lower the salary cap hit for him this season, which is pretty high and kind of spread that. I think that would be a situation that satisfies both sides.”
Heyward is a defensive captain and one of the emotional leaders of this team, and keeping him around is important from a leadership perspective but also for his play on the field. As DeFabo said, Heyward was still a really good run defender last season even while dealing with injuries, and if he’s healthy and can effectively rush the passer, he’ll get back to being regarded as one of the best interior defensive linemen in football.
But with his cap hit this season coming in at $22,406,250, the Steelers could lower it with an extension that tacks a year or two onto his deal. That would make the team happy and give Heyward some long-term security, which is what he’s looking for. He said he wants to play three more years and finish his career with the Steelers, so a two-year extension would make the most sense and probably be what Heyward prefers.
It’ll be interesting what the structure of a deal looks like when it gets done, and if it will get done ahead of or during training camp. If not, Heyward may be a very limited participant in camp, which isn’t much of a problem given he’s a veteran and the team pretty much knows what he’s capable of. But it’s probably better for both sides to get something done sooner rather than later, and if things drag into next offseason as the Steelers don’t extend players during the season, it could leave a bad taste in Heyward’s mouth and he could look to test free agency.
But it does seem as if some sort of extension will get done before the end of the summer, and the only question would be the length and compensation involved.
