Cam Heyward Rips Calls for Him to Take Pay Cut: ‘Screw the People Who Keep Talking About Me Getting a Pay Cut’

The Pittsburgh Steelers seem to know they are getting Cam Heyward back for at least one more season after an injury-filled, treacherous year for the team captain. But that leaves his contract status up in the air. Heyward has just one year left on his deal, and it’s a pricy year for the Steelers to absorb. His cap hit will reach over $22 million (according to Over the Cap), but an extension could lower that.

However, another idea has been for him to take a pay cut. But Heyward sounds like he will not be doing that. On his Not Just Football Podcast, Heyward emphatically offered up his take on that.

“I bust my butt in rehab, doing everything,” Heyward said. “I got to let things calm down. Screw the people who keep talking about me getting a pay cut.”

After the game and the following day, Cam Heyward dove into his injury details, stating that he completely tore his adductor muscle off the bone, requiring surgery. He pushed a 12-week timeline to just seven weeks. It’s a remarkable recovery time, but Heyward was still banged-up for the rest of the season, and needs time to let his body heal after the season.

“In my heart, I want to play,” Heyward said. “But it’s been rough. I need to take the offseason to get healthy again. Battling back through a groin, it’s one thing to just walk off a groin, it’s another to play football. It’s definitely been a season. I just wanted to put my hand in the pile.”

Heyward said that in addition to the groin and core muscle surgeries, he also suffered another groin injury and had a knee issue that kept him from practicing fully throughout almost the entire season after his return.

“I had my groin, then overcompensating with my other groin,” he said. “There was stuff on top of that my knee. It was a grind just to get ready for each game. It wasn’t by choice that I didn’t want to practice. It was ‘get me to the game.’ I don’t like that doing that. I don’t like playing football that way. I don’t ever want to cheat the game. I don’t ever want to think I’m not going to be 100%. But that was the cards I was dealt this year. It was a lot.”

Heyward will come back and should give the Steelers a boost to their defensive line room, but it seems unlikely his cap hit will stick at north of $22 million. Along with T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick, the three accumulate nearly a third of the team’s overall cap. Heyward can be flexible by extending his contract, especially since he thinks he might play more than just one more year.