The Pittsburgh Steelers were lucky to find Cameron Heyward at the end of the 2011 NFL Draft. After being buried behind the likes of Aaron Smith, and Brett Keisel at the beginning of his career he has developed into an All Pro. The heart and soul of the Steelers Defense. But father time is going to eventually catch up to Heyward, but he said he isn't done yet.
Rookie Cam Heyward
This morning Mina Kimes from ESPN sat down with Heyward for a very interesting interview.
One of the first topics that Kimes and Heyward spoke about was how many more seasons did Heyward think he could play? Or at least at this time how many more did he think he could play. This was Heyward's response.
"I want those Brady's numbers, man," Heyward said referring to Tom Brady who is still playing at age 45. "I want five more. If I get five more. Yeah. My wife might hate me by then, but five more."
Heyward and Kimes thought for a second about who is the oldest defensive lineman in the NFL right now. They talked about Calais Campbell who is 35. From some quick research I believe Campbell is the oldest right now. So Heyward isn't too far behind him in terms of getting up there. But Heyward credited the time he had as a back up in his early years as to why his body is where it is today.
"Yeah. So like for me, I was pretty lucky. My first two years I didn't play at all. How lucky is that? I went to the Pittsburgh Steelers 31st overall, but they had already had a DLine set. I remember going to countless meetings where my DLine coach would tell me, you're fighting for special teams reps. You're not going to start here right now. So understanding that. And now I'm at the back end of my career, but I think that kind of benefited me to rest my body. And now I'm performing better than I ever have.
Heyward just had a birthday on May 6 and turned 33. At 32 last year he had what could be argued his best professional career. He recorded 10 sacks, 9 batted balls, 89 tackles, 15 tackles for a loss, 17 quarterback hits, and was selected as a first team All-Pro and made the Pro Bowl. For the past 5 seasons he's made first or second team All-Pro and the Pro Bowl.
In 2017 Heyward really came into his own. That was when his run of accolades really took off and he began his dominance on the field.
