Fortunately for both Cam Heyward and the Pittsburgh Steelers, their contract dispute was resolved a day before the team took the field on Sunday. Despite Heyward receiving some new incentives, former Steelers OL Trai Essex didn’t think the seven-time Pro Bowler played like someone worthy of a raise.
“Cam struggled,” Essex said Monday on 93.7 The Fan. “And he is gonna hear it this week, there’s no way around it. When you ask for money, and you come to the agreement you had yesterday, fans are gonna expect him to show up. And Cam did not have his best game. And I love my guy. I love my guy Cam. He did not have a good game.”
The Jets seemed to be making a concerted effort to run away from T.J. Watt, which is probably a smart thing to do. That meant a lot of their carries came at Heyward, where the Jets did have a bit of success.
Heyward did have some decent numbers on the stat sheet. He knocked down a pass and had three combined tackles with one of them being for a loss. However, Essex is right that fans may be disappointed with his performance, especially after just agreeing to terms with the Steelers on an altered contract. He had practiced leading up to this game, so it’s not as if he was missing any reps either.
Essex doesn’t think Cam Heyward was the only issue on the interior, either. He also named Keeanu Benton and Yahya Black as players he wished would have stepped up more.
“I know we were short [Derrick] Harmon,” Essex said. “But a lot [was] made by the preseason and camp that Yahya Black had and Keeanu Benton. Neither one of those guys showed up.”
Benton especially was disappointing. For a third-year player, he didn’t show nearly as good technique as the Steelers hoped. Time and time again he was simply pushed out of his gap, with this play being a good example.
First play of the game, and the #Steelers run D is gashed.
Keeanu Benton turned sideways in the hole and buried on double team. The start of a really poor day for the third-year DL.
His take-on technique was bad all day long. pic.twitter.com/88ABr1Wm89
— Josh Carney (@ByJoshCarney) September 8, 2025
As for Black, he gets a little more grace. He didn’t do much of anything on Sunday, but it was his first NFL game, and he is a fifth-round pick. Even though he was impressive all preseason, it’s important to keep those facts in mind when evaluating his game. He should grow as the season goes on, but if Derrick Harmon wasn’t injured, he likely wouldn’t have been on the field much at all.
It’s only Week 1, but the leaky run defense is concerning. It’s something that plagued the Steelers toward the end of last season, and unfortunately they may have picked up where they left off to begin the 2025 campaign. It needs to improve as the year goes on, which Essex thinks starts with Cam Heyward.
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