When Pittsburgh Steelers DL Cam Heyward takes the field Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, he’ll have reached a milestone only five others in team history have achieved. It’ll be Heyward’s 200th game with the Steelers, a remarkable feat.
Below is a list of team’s ‘200-club,’ Heyward becoming the sixth card-carrying member.
Steelers To Play 200 Games
1. Ben Roethlisberger – 249
2. Mike Webster – 220
3. Hines Ward – 217
4. Donnie Shell – 201
5. Mel Blount – 200
5. Cam Heyward – 200
Elite company to be part of. Three current Hall of Famers in Webster, Shell, and Blount, a future first-ballot inductee in Roethlisberger, and borderline-Canton player in Ward. Heyward himself is right on the edge of a Hall of Fame jacket and bust with the rest of his career perhaps determining if he gets in or stays out. But this will be a milestone that can add to an impressive resume.
Of course, Heyward’s career in Pittsburgh is ongoing, signing an extension through 2026 just ahead of this season. If he plays out the rest of the season beyond the Raiders’ game, he’ll finish the year with 211 games. If he can play all of 2025, he’ll have 228 and surpass Webster for second on this list. And if Heyward can repeat that feat in 2026, he’ll be four shy of Roethlisberger’s team-record.
While the focus is on the team, a broader view equally shows how impressive it is. He’ll be just the 271st non-specialist player in NFL history to play in 200 games. That might sound like a lot but only accounts for roughly 1-percent of the over 27,000 players who have played in league history. Funny enough, Philadelphia Eagles Brandon Graham will be playing in his 200th game this weekend, the first ever-Eagle, in a game that kicks off three hours before Heyward’s. So Graham is No. 270, Heyward No. 271.
To take it a step further, Heyward will be just the 65th player of that list to do it with only one team. That includes Graham, who has spent his whole career with the Eagles and will be No. 64. That means Heyward represents about 0.2-percent of NFL players in history. Pittsburgh is among the leaders of that group with five of their six in that camp. Only C Mike Webster, who finished his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, played elsewhere.
Of the 254 players selected in his 2011 draft class, Heyward becomes the third to cross the 200-game milestone. He joins DL Cam Jordan and former teammate CB Patrick Peterson. The odds are sub-coin flip that anyone else joins them. DL Lawrence Guy, EDGE Von Miller, and QB Andy Dalton are within 30 games of that mark but have their own obstacles of getting there. Perhaps one of them, most likely Miller, will join the club.
Of Heyward’s class, only 1.2-percent of them have gone onto play 200 games. Only 21.6-percent of them have played in even half that amount while more 50-percent of his class couldn’t make it to Game 50. That’s probably typical of most draft classes with its slew of sixth and seventh-round dart throws but serves as a reminder of how hard it is to last in the NFL. Seven of those were first rounders, including QB Jake Locker and OT Derrek Sherrod, the player taken immediately after Heyward.
It’s another accolade in a fantastic career from Heyward. And combined, the Heyward family of himself, Connor, and late father Craig have played in a combined 389 regular season games, the equivalent of nearly 23 seasons under today’s 17-game schedule.
