A deal that saves more than $9M against this year’s salary cap

Pittsburgh – According to reports, the Steelers have agreed to a new three-year, $45 million contract with defensive end Cam Heyward, a Pro Bowl player, which will save the organisation more than $9 million against the salary cap this season. As part of the revised agreement, Heyward will receive a guaranteed sum of $16 million, which is equal to what his base pay was expected to be in 2024. The signing bonus was created out of that pay.

Heyward, who enters his 14th season with the team, was in the final year of a five-year, $65.6 million deal he signed in 2020. At 35, he was already the highest-paid interior defensive lineman over the age of 31 in the NFL.

The Steelers have an unofficial policy of not negotiating contracts once the regular season begins. They also hope to sign Pat Freiermuth, the lowest-paid starting tight end in the league, to a new deal before Sunday’s game in Atlanta.

Freiermuth is now in the final year of his four-year rookie contract and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Heyward has said all along he would like to finish his career with the Steelers, who drafted him in the first round in 2011. But he also said he wanted to play several more years and was willing to go somewhere else if the Steelers didn’t give him a new contract.

Heyward is coming off an injury-plagued season hampered by groin and knee issues, but he said he is fully recovered and ready to regain the form that made him a six-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time All-Pro. He did not appear in any of the Steelers’ three preseason games because the Steelers wanted to save him for the regular season.

Heyward played 11 games in 2023, totaling 25 tackles, six tackles for losses, two sacks and a pass deflection. The 6-foot-5, 295-pound defensive lineman has played all 194 of his NFL career games in Pittsburgh since being selected by the Steelers with the 31st overall pick in the 2011 draft.

In his more than ten years in Pittsburgh, Heyward has amassed 80.5 sacks, eight forced fumbles, and two interceptions, including a career-high 10.5 sacks just two seasons ago. Before injuries ruined his 2023 campaign, he totalled 20.5 sacks in 2021 and 2022.