When the Pittsburgh Steelers signed OLB T.J. Watt to his contract extension in July, fans presumed that was the end of any major contract negotiations. But not long before the Steelers’ first preseason game, Adam Schefter broke the news that DT Cam Heyward wants changes to his contract.
This news has not sat well with a large number of Steelers fans. After all, Heyward signed a new deal last offseason. But that contract did not give Heyward any new money, and he believes that his play last year warrants a raise. Former NFL DL Marcus Spears agrees with the seven-time Pro Bowler.
“They need to rectify this, man,” Spears said Thursday on The Pat McAfee Show. “We all know age matters in a contract. But he’s outplayed that salary.”
It should not surprise anyone that a player, or former player in Spears’ case, supports Cam Heyward getting more money. After all, NFL players have a limited window for making money before age or injury closes that window. Even two of Heyward’s newest teammates, cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, are speaking up for him.
But this isn’t just Spears advocating for a player to get paid. It goes deeper than that, to Heyward’s relationship with the Steelers as a player and as a franchise icon.
“When you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers, defense has been the catalyst, and he’s been one of the stalwarts,” Spears said. “And I think there is a certain as a good faith. And he has been in this organization, he has been through the 775 million quarterbacks that you’ve had on this team, and never complained, knowing at times you don’t have a shot in hell of winning a Super Bowl, but I’m going to continue to go out there and do what I do and try to promote what we do defensively.
“I think Cam deserves more money. One, his performance says that, but two, he’s a Steeler. He’s a synonymous figure. He’s going to be one of those guys hanging up in the stadium and doing all of the things that the Steelers represent. Go and pay the man.”
Marcus Spears on The Pat McAfee Show on why he thinks the Steelers need to rectify the contract situation with Cameron Heyward #Steelers #NFl pic.twitter.com/QWJ4nNAisF
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) August 14, 2025
This is the crux of the problem. Cam Heyward, for quite some time now, has been synonymous with the Steelers. And the Steelers are synonymous with the city of Pittsburgh. And for all those years, Heyward has been everything Pittsburgh wants. He plays hard and makes big plays from his defensive tackle position. He’s not a diva wide receiver who would be a supposed antithesis to Pittsburgh’s blue-collar mentality.
But there are plenty of fans who have turned on Heyward with this contract saga. It doesn’t take much time on social media (or even in our comment sections) to see fans express their frustration with a player who makes millions of dollars a year wanting more money.
Here is the reality, though. The NFL is not the same as a 9-to-5 blue-collar job. If a player is good enough, teams will pay him millions upon millions of dollars. And last year, Heyward outperformed his contract with 71 total tackles, eight sacks, 12 tackles for a loss, and 20 quarterback hits. He also had a career-high 11 passes knocked down on the way to first-team All-Pro honors.
Marcus Spears thinks that performance, plus everything Cam Heyward is the Steelers, means the team should find a way to pay him. But insider Ray Fittipaldo thinks they don’t want to and will only advance money from next year’s signing bonus as a “last resort.”
Will Heyward actually skip games, something he hasn’t ruled out, if the Steelers don’t work with him? That would be disastrous for the Steelers. They do not have someone who has proven to play close to his level in the middle of their defensive line. And make no mistake, if the Steelers truly want to contend for more than just a postseason Wild Card berth this year, they need their defense to play at a high level.
After all, it’s the defense that has kept the Steelers competitive year in and year out while they try to find a franchise quarterback. Yes, Spears is certainly exaggerating the number of quarterbacks the Steelers have gone through since Ben Roethlisberger retired. But the point is that all of them have failed at elevating the Steelers.
The defense has elevated the Steelers to a perennial playoff contender without quality offensive play. And Cam Heyward is a big part of that.
