If Cam Heyward’s contract situation occured in a vacuum, of course the Pittsburgh Steelers should give him more money. He is being paid like the 23rd-best defensive tackle in the league and he was arguably the very best last season. But every negotiation sets a precedent, and the team can’t afford to break long-standing rules that have been in place for years.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo doesn’t see this going the way that Heyward wants.
“He signed a three-year contract. He wants to come back after one year and redo the deal or get more money guaranteed to him when he could’ve just signed a one-year deal,” Fittipaldo said via 93.7 The Fan’s Pomp and Joe Show. “Unfortunately for him, I think the Steelers are gonna wait a while to see if he comes back and then if he doesn’t, they might try to sweeten it before the season starts.
“But they’re not gonna renegotiate the ceiling, give him a new contract. The only solution [is] maybe advancing him a little bit of next year’s roster bonus, which is probably the last resort for the Steelers.”
Omar Khan has done things a little differently from the Kevin Colbert regime, but it’s important to understand that Khan was a part of that old guard. His old job was to crunch numbers and manage the salary cap. He knows better than anybody the negotiating guardrails that the organization has in place. And I don’t think a 36-year-old who is liable to drop off any season now is worth breaking those rules.
The only players who get their contracts looked at with two years remaining on the deal are franchise quarterbacks. Everybody else has to wait their turn until there is one year remaining on the term of the deal. Blame Heyward for not betting on himself last offseason or blame his agent for not advising him correctly. He backed himself into a corner with the deal he signed.
It’s a question of leverage at the end of the day. The same reason Heyward wanted a multi-year deal last year is the same reason he probably won’t hold out this year. He is fighting against Father Time.
A true Le’Veon Bell-style holdout would waste perhaps his last good year at 36 years old. If he wants a chance to add to his legacy, both to solidify his spot in the Hall of Fame and to compete deep into the playoffs, this might be his last chance to do so.
The Steelers have him under contract for the next two years, so he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on other than to threaten to derail the Steelers’ all-in season. That would probably harm his legacy more than help it at this point.
If the Steelers move money from next year to this year, then they can expect more players to come knocking on Khan’s door for a sweetened deal with more than a year remaining on their contract. If they do move money around, they have to at least make it appear like a struggle.
Expect this thing to drag on until Sept. 5, right up until they board the plane to go to New York for their Week 1 game against the Jets.
