Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman, Cam Heyward has collected 78.5 sacks in his 13-year career in the black and gold to date. That means he only needs two and a half in 2023 to pass James Harrison for the franchise's all-time sack crown. His teammate, TJ Watt sits right behind him with 77.5, so even if Heyward can snag the crown, it likely won't be his for too long. Second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett, who has his locker right beside Heyward's, joked with The Athletic's Mark Kaboly that the list of quarterbacks included in his sack total must be everyone who's played the position since 2000. The list is not quite that comprehensive, but does include a total of 48 different signal-callers.
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Steelers' Cam Heyward gets his first career sack on Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
The first sack that started everything was Heyward's lone one in his rookie year against the Tennessee Titans on quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. The Steelers were coming off a 17-10 loss to the Houston Texans to drop them to 2-2. The Titans came to town with an identical record and Pittsburgh took care of business with a big 38-17 win led by Ben Roethlisberger tossing five touchdown passes.
Heyward was used sparingly during his rookie season, only getting into 27% of defensive snaps. The starters for the team at the defensive end spot that day were Brett Keisel and Ziggy Hood. It was the middle of the fourth quarter and the Titans trailing 31-10 were driving down the field. Hasselbeck dropped back on a 3rd and 1, only to be met by Heyward, who also knocked the ball loose for his first career strip-sack. The Titans recovered and eventually scored, but had already been put away by the great day from Pittsburgh's offense.
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Steelers' Cam Heyward (97) and James Harrison (92) celebrate a sack during a game in 2016 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Former San Fransico 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Washington Commanders quarterback Alex Smith and former Cincinnati Bengals starter Andy Dalton tie for the most sacked by Heyward of the 48 quarterbacks that he's taken down since the Steelers selected him in the first round in the 2011 NFL Draft. Heyward has gotten to each of them six times, including half-sacks.
Half of those sacks on Smith came in one game in Week 4 against the Cheifs in 2016. He registered a sack on the game's opening drive on a 2nd and 10. He also took a penalty for offside on the next play, but the Steelers were able to force an incompletion and a punt to end the drive. In the middle of the third quarter, Heyward brought Smith down a second time, forcing a fumble that Smith recovered. With the Steelers holding a commanding 43-7 lead to start the 4th quarter, Heyward opened up the final frame completing the hattrick and dropping Smith for a five-yard loss.
Steelers' Heyward Is Proud To Have Legendary Quarterbacks On The List While 1 Eluded Him
When Kaboly asked Heyward to start naming the 48 different guys that he'd gotten down, the first name he rhymed off was perhaps the greatest to ever play the position and that's former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, Tom Brady. Heyward has three career sacks on Brady, two while he was with the Patriots and a final one in Brady's last visit to Acrisure Stadium as a Buccaneer.
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Cam Heyward goes for the sack on Tom Brady
There are some other big-time names on the list like Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, who are setting themselves up to be mentioned among some of the best to ever play the sport. He got two sacks on Cam Newton in a 2018 game during Newton's last good year in the league. He's got one sack on Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford each. He got to Michael Vick in the season he was with the New York Jets before he became a teammate briefly the next year. He also sacked Philip Rivers as a member of the Indianapolis Colts, but there's one famous Colt he never managed to get.
Heyward said to Kaboly it was surprising to him that he never brought down Peyton Manning. Digging into it, it's a little less surprising because Heyward and Manning only played against each other twice, once in the regular season and once in the playoffs. In Heyward's first year in the league, the Steelers traveled to Indianapolis to play the Colts, but that was the year Manning missed with his neck injury. In their lone regular season meeting in 2012, the Denver Broncos got the better of the Steelers 31-19 with Heyward registering three tackles. The Steelers faced Brock Osweiler in 2015 with Manning inactive, and Heyward got a sack against him.
Heyward's career will be coming to an end soon, but before that happens, he will have a chance to cement his name firmly in the franchise record books and maybe add a few more names to his list. In just the first four weeks this season, Heyward will have a chance to add whoever the 49ers start in the opener, Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders, and 2023 first overall pick Bryce Young in Week 4 against the Carolina Panthers. And if Young isn't starting yet, maybe Dalton passes Smith as his most sacked guy.
Do you have a favorite Cam Heyward sack? Where will he rank amongst the Pittsburgh Steelers when he eventually does hang up the cleats? Comment below!
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