Cam Heyward can’t control if the Steelers decide to give him a contract extension that will allow the six-time Pro Bowl defensive end to achieve his goal of retiring with the organization. And he said he is not going to get his hopes up that he will receive another deal.
All he can control is how he performs on the field and what he can bring to a defensive line that can surely use a return to his former dominating self.
That’s why Heyward, the team’s defensive captain, was out on the field on the first day of his 14th training camp with the Steelers, lining up at his usual defensive end spot with the first-team defense. At age 35, Heyward didn’t have to be out there. He wanted to be out there.
And while he is feeling good about his return to health, he is not exactly confident another contract might be forthcoming.
“Am I confident?” Heyward said. “I don’t like to go either way with that because you get your hopes up and something doesn’t happen. I’m just going to focus on being the best player I can be. This team needs my leadership and production and I look forward to doing it.”
It seems the Steelers are starting to feel the same way.
About an hour after Heyward expressed his doubts about a possible contract extension, general manager Omar Khan sounded more optimistic.
When he was asked about the possibility of a new deal for the newly minted Walter Payton Man of the Year, Khan said he thinks Heyward "has a lot of football ahead of him. I expect him to be here for years to come."
The Steelers have already agreed to pay Heyward the $16 million he is scheduled to earn this season and not worry about the $22.4 million hit on their salary cap. That is something of a rare move by an organization that over the years has asked players such as Jerome Bettis, Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison to take significant pay cuts.
But it is testament to what Heyward has meant to the organization — and, apparently, what they still think he has to offer at age 35 even after coming off an injury-plagued season.
“It’s my goal, but not everybody thinks like that,” Heyward said when asked if he wants to retire with the Steelers. “I want to be here, but there’s a lot of football to be played — this season and a couple seasons. But I can’t control that. I can only focus on what’s in front of me.
“I’m not going to get my hopes up either way. I’m not going to put stock in that. I’ll focus on the things I can control. I can be productive. I can be healthy. If they believe in me, if I can play more, so be it. If they don’t, I’ll go somewhere else.”
Heyward is the highest-paid interior defensive lineman over the age of 31 in the NFL, and he is hoping to bounce back from a series of groin injuries that hampered his play in 2023. He did that in 2017 when he returned from a torn pectoral muscle that ended his 2016 season after seven games to have the best season of his career, posting 12½ sacks and 16 tackles for loss. Both were team highs.
But Heyward is seven years older now, and those bounce backs don’t come as easily.
“I feel good,” he said. “My groin is great. I don’t feel any lingering effects of that. I feel excited just to be out here after dealing with what I dealt with last year. I was nursing [the injury] at training camp last year, so to be at full strength and not have to worry about it is really good sign for me.”
It’s a good sign for the Steelers, too, especially after doing little in the offseason to drastically strengthen the defensive line. They signed former Vikings defensive end Dean Lowry in free agency and drafted Iowa defensive end Logan Lee in the sixth round, but those moves are expected to be for depth purposes, at best.
Heyward said he is using his contract situation as motivation.
“When everybody is against you, I just want to shut everybody up,” he said.
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and @gerrydulac on X
First Published: July 25, 2024, 6:15 p.m.
Updated: July 26, 2024, 3:00 p.m.