The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for their preseason opener on Saturday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It's been an exciting offseason for the Steelers and there should be a ton of optimism as the regular season approaches.
However, this week, there was a surprising development involving one of the team's most popular players Cam Heyward. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Heyward has quietly been holding out of practice despite being present at training camp.
The veteran wants to restructure his contract as the defensive market has been reset this offseason. Heyward's teammate T.J. Watt was recently in a similar situation before the team handed him a massive extension.
Now, it appears that Heyward is unwilling to participate unless his contract is restructured. Schefter pointed out that Heyward has already received all but $1.3 million of his payment for this season via his roster bonus, meaning his per game payments will be rather small in 2025.
On Friday night, Heyward took to Instagram with a cryptic post regarding his situation. The seven-time Pro Bowler posted a story with the quote "You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain."
This is clearly referring to the fact that Steelers fans have been vocal about their displeasure with how Heyward has handled this situation.
Heyward was born in Pittsburgh and has spent his entire 14-year career with the team. During that time, the defender has made seven Pro Bowls, four First-team All-Pro selections, and is second all-time in career sacks for the Steelers.
So naturally, Heyward has been a fan-favorite for years now. Unfortunately, fans don't usually respond well to holdouts, even when it's a franchise legend. If Heyward and the Steelers can come to an agreement, though, it's likely fans will forget about this whole debacle and move forward.
In 2024, Heyward played in all 17 games and collected 71 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and eight sacks. The defender earned an elite 90.3 Pro Football Focus grade in 2024, which ranked 1st out of 219 qualified interior defensive linemen.
Even at 36 years old, Heyward has proven that he is still capable of playing at an elite level. While the Steelers may not want to deal with his contract right now, they may not have another option. The Steelers have Isaiahh Loudermilk and Logan Lee as the depth options behind Heyward, and obviously either of those players would be a massive downgrade.
Spotrac projects Heyward to be worth about $24 million per year on a new deal, which would put him as the eighth-highest paid interior defender.