Cam Heyward is currently at Steelers training camp, but the defensive lineman isn’t ruling out a holdout if he and the team can’t renegotiate a contract extension he signed last year.
The Steelers defender told reporters on Monday that his camp approached the Steelers about his contract during the scouting combine in February and indicated that the organization asked him to take a pay cut in 2023 after he had a season riddled with injuries.
News of Heyward’s contract request and hold-in first came to light last week.
Now, Heyward hinted at potentially missing games.
“There are definitely options out there that could reflect that,” he said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Heyward signed a three-year, $45 million extension last year, but had told the front office to be ready to return to the bargaining table if he had a strong 2024.
“I understand I signed a contract last year, but to be completely honest with you, when I signed that, I told them, ‘When I have an All-Pro year, expect me to come back [to the bargaining table],”‘ Heyward said. “I think everybody kind of giggled a little bit. I used it as motivation.”
Heyward went on to record 71 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and earned All-Pro honors while also being named to the Pro Bowl.
“Honestly, I’m looking to be valued,” Heyward said. “In my eyes, when I look around at my position, I think I’m 22nd [in compensation] as a defensive tackle, I’m 32nd as a defensive lineman. I know what I bring to this team and what I’m capable of on and off the field. It’s hard for me, after the year I had, to justify playing at the number I’m playing at.”
Heyward has been at camp, attending meetings and practices and expressed that his goal was “to be out here” while adding that he didn’t “know what’s going to happen.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
