Cameron Heyward
Cameron Heyward
Player: DL Cam Heyward
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: To kick off his 16th season, Cam Heyward put on a clinic, including three run stops and three batted passes. While he didn’t record a sack or a high volume of tackles, he clearly impacted the game. After all, 30 percent of the Falcons’ incompletions are a result of his big, long arms. Clearly, he isn’t about to fall off a cliff.
At some point, Cam Heyward will age out of greatness—or retire first. During yesterday’s season opener, however, he showed that it won’t be now. After sitting out the preseason, he looked fresh against the Falcons. Officially, he finished the game with 3 tackles and 3 passes defensed. All of them impacted the game.
All three of Heyward’s tackles were run stops, creating negative plays for a limited Falcons offense and setting them back. Given how much they relied on Bijan Robinson, any negative play is big. In fact, On his first tackle on 1st and 10, Atlanta punted three plays later. Late in the game, he tackled Robinson for no gain on 3rd and 1, forcing them to settle for a field goal.
In between, Cam Heyward got his mitts on three passes by Cooper Rush. Obviously, that’s not the quarterback the Falcons hoped to start on the day, and even he was dealing with back spasms. But he is an NFL quarterback and he can’t be dismissed.
Batted passes have long been in Heyward’s arsenal, but three in one game is rare even for him. In fact, he had done it just once before, in Week 18 of the 2024 season. In 2024, he posted a career-high 11 batted passes, his only year with double digits. Kicking off the season with three, he could certainly challenge that mark.
Of course, one hopes that Cam Heyward can still find his way to the quarterback. He wasn’t credited with a quarterback hit in yesterday’s game, though that doesn’t mean he wasn’t getting into the backfield. In fact, he was initially credited with a half-sack on I believe T.J. Watt’s first sack. After finishing last year with 3.5, though, can he post a more respectable mark in 2026?
With the 2026 regular season here, we have stock to take. Already promisinga year of change, the Steelers have shaken things up. That is unavoidable, of course, when you gut the coaching staff. Mike Tomlin’s resignation has fundamentally changed this football team, including the players on the roster.
After a long season, the Steelers showed the ability to win the division and make the playoffs. But they also showed that their progress was minimal,since they made it no further. Two years in a row, with two different quarterbacks, they went 10-7 and lost in the Wild Card Round. The only differences are they ended the season on a higher note and won the AFC North. But it didn’t help.