Cameron Heyward is having one of his best seasons while playing as small a rate of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defensive snaps as he had over his decade-plus as a standout NFL starter.
At age 35 Heyward remains among the elite of the league’s defensive lineman. Pro Football Focus grades him as the top interior d-lineman in the NFL. Heyward has stayed healthy a year after a groin injury caused him to miss six games and limited his effectiveness even when he was playing.
“I feel good,” Heyward said before practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Tuesday. “There’s been a plan in place for me to stay upright and stay healthy. I’d like to be out there practicing more – but (coach Mike Tomlin) has got a prescribed plan…. I am trusting the process, and it’s bringing me pretty good results.”
Ten games into this season while captaining the NFL’s No. 2 scoring defense and No. 4 rushing defense, Heyward has five sacks, 15 QB hits, five batted-down balls and 39 tackles (22 solo, six for loss). Per PFF, Heyward has 35 “pressures” of opposing quarterbacks.
Heyward is making an impact playing a smaller share of the Steelers’ defensive snaps when healthy than he ever has since he became a starter in his third season in 2013. Heyward played between 75%-85% of the snaps in every season from 2013-2022.
This season, Heyward is playing 70% of the Steelers’ snaps on defense. But as defensive coordinator Teryl Austin confirmed, there is some thoughtfulness to when and how much Heyward plays.
Nov. 10 in Washington, with the Steelers coming of an idle week and not playing again for seven days, Heyward took part in a season-high 86% of the defensive snaps. This past Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, with the Steelers playing another game four days later (at the Cleveland Browns on Thursday), Heyward played 64% of the snaps – a figure just shy of his season-low (63%).
“You’d love to keep Cam in a certain percentage of snaps because we do have good depth and that’ll keep him fresh for what we feel will be so he’s playing at a high level throughout the end of our season,” Austin said. “And so it is it’s part of the plan.”
Heyward had two sacks against the Commanders and followed it up with one of his most impactful games via the “eye test” versus Baltimore.
The Steelers’ all-time leader in games played by a defensive player, Heyward regularly sits out at least one day per week (and sometimes more) of practice. Heyward said that Tomlin likes to joke with him that he is “captain of the swim team” because he spends so much time on an underwater treadmill at the Steelers facility.
“He gets days off (practice), we let other guys get work,” Austin said. “When we get in the game, we try to make sure that we’re real conscious of how many reps we give him because he’s not 25-year-old Cam where he can take 90% of the reps. But he can give you a good 70% and be really, really efficient (and) really, really good. And that’s what he’s done so far.”