Father Time comes for us all. For NFL players, the thought is terrifying. You can be in your prime one year and fall off an absolute cliff the next.
We’ve seen it happen repeatedly with players at every position. It’s never pleasant, and it’s always tough for players and fans to swallow. How can a player who was once so feared to be reduced to a role player? Do they even have that in their DNA, or are they too competitive to accept the lesser role?
For Cameron Heyward, this dilemma has become all too real. He’s far from over the hill yet, but we can see the decline coming, albeit slowly. He does have some believers, however, in Ali Bhanpuri, Tom Blair, Gennaro Filice & Dan Parr, who ranked him 23rd on their list of the 30 best NFL players over 30.
“The question is, what do we do with Heyward’s 2023? He missed the early portion of last season with a groin injury and was not nearly as productive as usual upon return. Is he ready to again be a core member of the Steelers’ defense?” they wrote. “At this point, I think it’s fair to give the benefit of the doubt to a player with Heyward’s bona fides, and I’m not just saying that because I watched him convincingly bull rush perennial Pro Bowler Quenton Nelson while reviewing Heyward’s pressures in 2023.”
The other thing that often happens with these veteran guys is that they earn a level of respect that isn’t afforded to other guys. As far as giving someone the “benefit of the doubt”, there are few better players to give it to than Heyward.
Sure, he was hurt last year, but even when he was on the field, he wasn’t the Heyward of old. But even at age 35, is he really a guy you want to bet against? Just two years ago he was outstanding, and players of all ages have down seasons due to injury.
The only problem is, there always seems to be something when you get to that age as an NFL player. Some excuse, a hampering injury, you didn’t participate in all of training camp so you need time to get up to speed, something. If he has another down year, it’ll be hard to make a case for him to be on a list like this next year.
But for now, at least, I’m rocking with Heyward still. He probably doesn’t have a ton of good seasons left, and his best days are behind him. I still think he can provide elite production in spurts and very good production across a whole season.
