The Pittsburgh Steelers have two All-Pro's among their front seven. Cam Heyward, and TJ Watt were both been selected as first team All-Pro's last season and both continue to be dominate at their respective positions. As Heyward has gotten older he's continued to grow as a player and it's allowed him to stay dominate now into his early 30's.
Steelers defensive tackle, Cam Heyward (#97) celebrates with head coach, Mike Tomlin, after their 39-38 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, December 10, 2017, at Heinz Field. | Christopher Horner / Tribune-Review
For the past two seasons the yearly argument has been who should be the Defensive Player of the Year? Should it be Watt, or should it be Aaron Donald? For the first time in 2021 Watt was able to beat out Donald for the honor. But the name who doesn't come up in the conversations is Heyward's. If Watt didn't play on his team there might be the possibility of Heyward getting more consideration for the award. Back in 2008 James Harrison and Troy Polamalu battled it out for the award. Harrison won in 2008, and Polamalu ended up winning in 2010. But for many years surrounding their wins they always took votes from each other.
Heyward is the heart and soul of the defense. But Watt makes the flashy plays, and a lot of them. But speaking on Mina Kimes podcast earlier this week Heyward talked about how mad it makes him that he isn't named when talking about the very best at his position group. Instead that the only name ever brought up is Donald. That doesn't sit well with Heyward.
"Yeah, pisses me off hands down. Like you know. I think I'm one of if not the most complete player at my position. You know, I know Aaron is a you know a really talented guy, but don't just shy away and say, 'oh it's Aaron Donald and everybody else'. [Crap], it's Cam and Aaron and everybody else."
Last year Heyward started all 17 games for the Steelers and recorded a career high in tackles with 89. He also had 10 sacks, 9 passes broken up, 15 tackles for a loss, and 17 quarterback hits. Donald for comparison had 84 tackles, 4 pass deflections, 12.5 sacks, 19 tackles for a loss, and 25 quarterback hits.
Donald gets the edge stat wise, but overall the two are much closer than a lot would admit to. What Heyward says is true, though. It's always, and only is Donald when it comes to the top of his position. If you tried to make an argument with any non-Steelers fan that Heyward was just as good as Donald you'd probably get laughed at. That shouldn't be the case though.
We know Donald is as good as it comes at rushing the passer. He and Watt are the premier pass rushers. Heyward is good in his own right, but not at the level of Donald. The question mark has always been is Donald good against the run? We know Heyward is. The fact that the Steelers couldn't stop anyone who was rushing against them last year wasn't because of Heyward. It was because of a magnitude of other things.
If you go through google and search 'is Aaron Donald good against the run' you will find several different takes on it. Last season he seemed to drastically improve against the run, but in 2019 and 2020 there were a lot of question marks. So maybe Heyward does have an argument when he say's he's the most complete player at his position.
Aaron Donald is just average for a defensive tackle in run stop win rate. I took a look at our new metric's most surprising result: https://t.co/Q7ihSYOLYD
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 8, 2020
