Cameron Heyward will soon have to make a decision, it seems. The Pittsburgh Steelers open training camp in less than a week, and he is no closer to a new contract. There are no indications that the team even intends to give him one, so what will he decide? Will he show up but not practice, as many players now do—a “hold-in”?
Heyward is fortunate in the sense that the last time he was up for a contract, it was in 2020. The Steelers held a closed training camp with no preseason that year during the COVID-19 pandemic, so he avoided all of the media drama. WR Diontae Johnson certainly did not fare as well later on, nor did T.J. Watt.
But at the end of the day, Cameron Heyward is 35 years old and coming off a significant injury. No matter how good he is, a part of him has to understand the front-office perspective. Is it a good investment to commit more money to him under the circumstances?
“I don’t think that there’s anything really imminent or positive”, Aditi Kinkhabwala said on 93.7 The Fan yesterday, when asked for an update on the Heyward situation. She went on to contrast the tone to last year with Alex Highsmith, who signed a new deal.
“You can get a sense that, ‘Okay, even though Alex isn’t necessarily going to say anything right now, things are moving along in a very positive vein’”, she recalled of the Highsmith negotiations. “I don’t think that that’s the situation here. There’s nothing new to report right now on that front. That’s all I’ll say”.
Heyward skipped the first two weeks of OTAs to prove his seriousness about wanting a new contract. He had never skipped OTAs before, and he is a team captain, so he didn’t take that step lightly. But he ultimately caved and reported for the final week of OTAs, and he participated in mandatory minicamp.
Players are subject to automatic fines if they are under contract and skip training camp, giving rise to the “hold-in”. Rather than holding out, players report to camp and participate in every way except on the field. This is what Watt and Johnson did—and what Heyward did in 2020, only the outside didn’t know.
Heyward is well within his rights to do so, but the problem is it won’t make a difference. The Steelers don’t care if he practices, and Mike Tomlin would give him ample days off, anyway. I’m not sure how much a hold-in on his part would even be noticeable, in that sense.
Considering he did take the field during OTAs, which are voluntary, however, I don’t see Heyward holding in. At the same time, I don’t know that I see the Steelers signing him to an extension, either. They are already paying him $16 million to play this season, so it’s not like he’s suffering financially.
If I were to guess, I would surmise that Kinkhabwala is right. Nobody “imminent or positive” is going on in talks between Cameron Heyward and the Pittsburgh Steelers, I imagine. The Steelers know they can wait until after this season because he doesn’t want to play anywhere else. Call it exploiting his loyalty if you want, but that is reality.
