The Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to a new three-year extension with DL Cam Heyward, and Heyward reacted to the news with a tweet, all smiles as he posed as he signed his new contract along with GM Omar Khan.
“How unlikely! Yet here we are. Thanks @steelers,” Heyward wrote on Twitter.
Heyward had made his intention for a new deal clear earlier this summer, and just a few days before the regular season, he and the Steelers agreed to terms on an extension that will pay him $45 million over three years with $16 million guaranteed. It’s likely that Heyward’s contract will also lower his cap hit for the 2024 season, and with the potential contract that Dave Bryan laid out, it would include no new money in 2024.
The Steelers don’t negotiate extensions in-season with their players, so a deal had to get done between now and Sunday if it was going to get done ahead of the season. Heyward hadn’t seemed optimistic about receiving a new contract earlier this summer but was adamant he wanted to be a “one-helmet player,” and the Steelers are likely making it happen with a deal that will tie the 35-year-old to the Steelers through the 2026 season.
He’s still talented on the field, and even after dealing with a groin injury last season that caused him to miss six games, he was still the team’s best run defender when he returned. He’s also a team captain for the 10th straight season heading into this year and was named the Walter Payton Man Of The Year for his work with his Heyward House Foundation. He’s a great leader for the Steelers and one of the faces of the franchise, and it’s really not much of a surprise that he’s remaining in Pittsburgh and that the Steelers worked to get a deal done.
Heyward will remain a key piece of Pittsburgh’s defense and team this year and beyond, and he’ll likely finish his career with the team that drafted him. Even though Heyward might not have been confident earlier in the offseason about an extension, the “how unlikely” comment feels more tongue-in-cheek, as it’s hard to imagine Heyward playing anywhere but Pittsburgh, and now that thought won’t be all that realistic anymore.
