Cameron Heyward is continuing to wait out the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have yet to change his contract just one-year into a three-year deal.
However, Steelers star cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay already want to see Heyward gets his bag, and put on public pressure to the organization to get his deal done sooner rather than later.
“We can’t wait to be on that field with you Week 1 after, you know, everything goes down, everything gets situated. We need all of y’all out there Mr. Omar. I’ve got a lot of respect for you Mr. Omar. You’ve taken care of me, T.J., Slay. Cam is next. We’re excited, man. We’ve got potential to do something great if we got all our guys out there happy and feeling like they’re valued. I know something about feeling valued and getting what you deserve.," Ramsey said on Not Just Football.
Slay added the cornerbacks are now ‘riding with’ Heyward and other players on the team, so they are looking to see how the team treats Heyward in this contract dispute.
Before ending the statements on Heyward’s contract, Ramsey added Slay and himself remain in the Steelers captain’s corner in his quest to get more money.
“We’re not playing about y’all,” Ramsey said. “We stand on the table for y’all.”
Heyward, who is the 22nd highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL, says he talked to the team in late February that he would like a new deal. In Heyward’s own words, he just wants to be valued relative to the market that has continued to soar.
“I’m honestly looking to be valued. When I look around at my position, as a D-Tech, I’m 36 as a D-Lineman. I know what I bring to this team and what I’m capable of on and off the field. It’s hard for me to have it after the year I’m done to really justify playing at the number I’m playing at,” Heyward said.
The biggest rebuttal to Heyward getting a new deal is that he signed a deal and should honor it. For the Steelers, there was no guaranteed money past the 2024 season, though Heyward received a roster bonus in March once he was not released.
A first-team All-Pro in 2024, Heyward wants his pay to reflect how he played on the field. Getting a one-year pay raise would seem to satisfy what he is asking.
Heyward has a roster bonus of $12.95 million next year, and the Steelers could push some of that money forward to allow Heyward to land that money early, thus increasing his pay for the season.
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