Steelers' Cam Heyward looking to stay for long haul

Steelers' Heyward looking to stay for long haul

By Chris Adamski
Wednesday, May 20, 2015



Cameron Heyward took note of a quality that all three of the Steelers' recently-retired defensive stars shared.

With Troy Polamalu, Brett Keisel and Ike Taylor having moved on, it's a trait Heyward strives for in himself.

“You know, the Steelers greats, they don't go anywhere else,” Heyward said, “and that's one of my goals — to be a Steeler great. That means being here for the rest of my life. Football included and after.”

As Heyward enters his fifth season and third as a starter, many are predicting burgeoning stardom for the Steelers' left defensive end. He tied for the team lead with 7 1⁄2 sacks and a team-high six tackles for loss last season, the first in which he started all 16 games.

When the 2013 season was winding down 18 months ago, Heyward was the third-youngest starter on the Steelers' defense.

As it stands today, he's tied for the third-longest who's been continuously tenured.

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No reason to think they can't/won't extend him. He is productive, a good dude, and loves playing here.

I'm cool with it.

10 year, vet minimum

Good deal Cam, players that spend half their careers elsewhere and then want to retire as a Steeler kind of gets under my skin.

Heyward doesn't see defense changing much

Posted May 21, 2015
Teresa Varley Steelers.com

Cam Heyward, who said he wants to play his entire career with the Steelers, thinks there will only be minor changes to the defense under Keith Butler.

For the past month Steelers players have been hitting the weight room, doing on field conditioning, and getting ready for football to begin.

On Tuesday, with the start of OTAs, they get one step closer to doing what they love most. But not quite there yet.

OTAs, which are Phase 3 of the offseason program, are 10 days of practice where the team can do 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, but no live contact.

For Cam Heyward and his defensive teammates, it will be the first opportunity to really put to work what new defensive coordinator Keith Butler has planned for them.

“I don’t think there are going to be too many changes,” said Heyward. “It’s going to be the same details. We will have a couple of new wrinkles, but we won’t share them now.”

There will be a lot of new faces for everyone to get accustomed to in the defensive huddle with veterans like Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, Brett Keisel and Jason Worilds no longer on the roster, but Heyward expects young players to step up to the plate and make a name for themselves.

One of those players he has high expectations for is second-year defensive end Stephon Tuitt. Tuitt saw spot playing time early in the season, but stepped into a starting role for the final four games after Keisel was out for the season with a torn triceps muscle. He had the normal rookie struggles, but Heyward saw a lot of progress from him and expects more.

to read rest of article:

http://www.steelers.com/news/article...4-87cd8879b39d

Signing Cam Heyward to extension now makes sense for Steelers

Jeremy Fowler, ESPN Senior NFL Writer

A contract extension for Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward would cost more up front, but would be cost-effective in the long term for an ascending player who's not yet a household name.

The Steelers want Heyward to be a Steeler long-term and have told Heyward as much. Heyward wants to be a Steeler, and a Steeler great -- "that means being here the rest of my life, football included, and after," Heyward told local reporters Thursday. Heyward will play the good-teammate role, assuring he won't "ruffle feathers or make waves," but would love a deal eventually.

The Steelers have a history of finalizing deals for key players as they enter the final year of a rookie contract, so expect talks to intensify this summer.

Here are three reasons why doing a deal before the 2015 season makes sense.

Save long-term money: Heyward has a 2015 option for about $7 million. If he has a huge 2015 season, the Steelers are on the hook for that $7 million, plus a new deal.

If the team franchise-tagged Heyward after this year, they could be on the hook for $20-plus million for two years. They could probably pay less than that in up-front guarantees if they cut the deal now.

The meter's running: The Saints' Cameron Jordan, the Jets' Muhammad Wilkerson, the Chiefs' Dontari Poe are all expensive linemen who might get new deals soon.

to read rest of article:

http://espn.go.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/post/_/id/13899/three-challenges-for-steelers-ben-roethlisberger-after-signing-99-m-deal

Steelers Contracts: Will Cameron Heyward’s New Deal Be More Than Corey Liuget’s?

By Dave Bryan on June 12, 2015

Defensive end Corey Liuget signed a five year, $51.25 million contract extension with the San Diego Chargers earlier this week and thanks to Michael Gehlken of The San Diego Union-Tribune, we now know what the structure of that deal likely looks like it.

Liuget, who was drafted 18th overall in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Chargers, received a $7.5 million signing bonus as part of his new deal. While it’s being reported that $30.477 million of his deal is guaranteed, over half of that is guaranteed from injury only. In reality, Liuget received $13.977 million in full guarantees and that consist of his signing bonus, his $1 million first year base salary and his $5.477 million first year roster bonus, which was reportedly paid to him on Friday.

Liuget stands to earn a virtually guaranteed $5.5 million roster bonus next offseason as long as he’s still with the team on the third day of the new league year.

If you look at Liuget’s deal as being a five-year extension that included $51.25 in new money, he will average $10.25 million a season. The deal signed by New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan a few weeks ago, had a new money average of $11 million per year, so there’s a good chance the contract extension that Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward will sign between now and the start of the regular season will result in a new money average of around $10-10.5 million.

to read rest of article:

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2015/06...corey-liugets/

The luiget and Jordan deals certainly act as a benchmark and starting point which is why I wished we already extended Cameron before we let other teams help dictate the market.

tony hipchest wrote:

The luiget and Jordan deals certainly act as a benchmark and starting point which is why I wished we already extended Cameron before we let other teams help dictate the market.

I was all for extending him last year.

Everyone else was like: "Fifth year deal is good enough..."


Oh well... at least he's being re-signed. He & Tuitt will be the best DE duo that this team has ever had.



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teegre wrote:

He & Tuitt will be the best DE duo that this team has ever had.  

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better than Dwight White and L.C. Greenwood?