He’s still in the midst of a contract hold-in, unhappy with the money he is set to make this season, and is facing quite a bit of backlash, but Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman and team captain Cameron Heyward remains in good standing with the franchise.
Especially within the front office.
Assistant GM Andy Weidl, spoke highly of Heyward Thursday during a press conference though he deferred any contract talks to GM Omar Khan.
“Cam Heyward is a great pro and a great family man,” Weidl told reporters, according to a tweet on X from 93.7 The Fan. “He means a ton to the organization. He knows how to get himself ready to play.”
“Omar’s running the point on that negotiation. I’m going to stay out of that, away from that, as respect to him and Cam’s people in the process. Cam Heyward’s a great pro. He’s an all-time great Steeler. He is a great player, great family man. He means a ton to the organization. He knows how to get himself ready to play. That’s one thing we know about him. He knows how to get himself ready to play. He’s done this for a long time at a high level,” Weidl said via transcript provided by the team.
There shouldn’t be any concerns with Heyward conducting a hold-in, as far as being ready to go for the 2025 season. He’s played nearly 10,000 snaps in his career, and is coming off a first-team All-Pro season.
The restructure and raise ask from Heyward hasn’t gone over well, leading to a great deal of criticism leveled at him. It was a surprise when the report first came out from ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Aug. 7. Then, Heyward spoke to the media a few days later and talked about being unable to justify playing at the number he’s playing at in 2025.
Currently, Heyward is the 23rd-highest paid interior defensive lineman in the NFL. He had to watch the likes of Javon Kinlaw, Osa Odighizuwa, Christian Barmore, Alim McNeil and more reset the defensive line market, getting more per year than he was set to make.
That, along with how negotiations went last summer — the Steelers asked him to take a pay cut before ultimately inking him to a two-year, $29 million extension — led to Heyward wanting to renegotiate after another dominant season. It’s understandable from Heyward’s angle why he feels undervalued and underpaid. He shouldn’t be the 23rd-highest paid defensive lineman in football.
But the Steelers were fortunate to get him on that contract, and based on recent reports from Schefter, they seem to have no real appetite to pay Heyward right now. Heyward has made the threat of potentially sitting out games while trying to get his contract resolved, but neither side wants it to get to that point.
Of course, one way the Steelers could get this thing resolved is by bumping part of Heyward’s $12.95 million non-guaranteed roster bonus in 2026 to 2025 to give him more cash now, as Dave Bryan has suggested. Heyward, to his credit, seems open to that.
But there’s been no real movement, and the fan base is seemingly turning on Heyward, which is disappointing to see. He means a great deal to the city, the organization and the game of football on and off the field. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and it remains that way in the Steel City for No. 97.
