With many of the veterans of the defense now long gone, there aren’t many guys left that can be considered the face of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense.
One of those guys who could though is defensive end Cameron Heyward.
Heyward has gotten better each year in the league to the point where he looks to be a fixture on the Steelers defensive line for years to come.
For that to happen though Heyward is going to need a new contract.
The Ohio State product is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is hoping to spend his entire career in black and gold.
Heyward doesn’t appear to be in a rush to get a new deal, but would like something done sooner rather than later.
“I’m not here to ruffle feathers or make waves,” Heyward said, via the Tribune Review. “I’m not one of these guys who thinks about their contract while I’m here. I would love to have it done as soon as possible, but I’m not in any rush. I’ll let the cards fall where they might and continue to improve.”
The Steelers though need to be in more of a hurry to lock up Heyward as they don’t want to roll the dice and allow Heyward to play out his final season without an extension.
That shouldn’t be an issue as Kevin Colbert and his staff are usually very good about locking up parts of their future during training camp.
I would expect that to be the case with Heyward as he should get a new deal very early in the summer.
Heyward has recorded 12.5 sacks the past two seasons, his first two as a starter.
With very little quality depth at defensive end, I would expect that the Steelers lock up Heyward within no time.
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