Player: DL Cameron Heyward
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: If Father Time is catching up to Cameron Heyward, then the veteran DL had a hell of a head start. The 35-year-old showed during the Steelers’ season opener that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank. Under great scrutiny due to his groin injury last season and his contract situation, he silenced doubters last week. But he will have to do it again and again and again—durability is a part of the equation.
Remember when Cameron Heyward was “washed”? Well, it turns he’s not. In fact, he proved during the season opener that he is still capable of playing at a high level. Montravius Adams may have stolen a sack from him, but his tape shows where his game is.
Heyward recorded four tackles during the Steelers’ season opener, three of them being run stops. The Falcons’ only successful play of his four tackles was a four-yard gain on 1st and 10, which is minimal. And even though he didn’t create a sack or a hit, he showed he can still rush the passer.
A potential future Hall of Famer, Cameron Heyward made the Pro Bowl six years running before last season. A groin injury hindered him all year, however, culminating in surgery after a Week 1 aggravation. He missed some time and obviously wasn’t playing at full strength once he returned.
Outside of two seasons, Heyward has been an ironman throughout his career, hardly missing time. But his misfortune is that he is “at that age” when an elite athlete can no longer trust his body. The Steelers watched Aaron Smith’s body betray him during Heyward’s rookie career. And now Heyward is at that point in his career.
At least, he is there numerically. He still has 16-plus more games to get through, however. Anybody can make it through one game without tearing themselves apart. At least, any NFL athlete can—I probably can’t. But did Cameron Heyward look like he was even close to falling apart on Sunday? Not to me he didn’t, and if you watched carefully, probably not to you, either. Test One passed.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
