Veteran DT Cam Heyward Reveals Why He Wants to Keep Playing at 35 Amid the Steelers’ Super Bowl Drought

Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, ensuring that the team is a perennial regular season winner, it has been 15 long years since the steel curtain dawned on the Super Bowl stage. While frustrations surrounding the title-game drought continue to fester, one Pittsburgh veteran finds himself continuing to trust them in the process.

As his fellow pass rushers, such as Aaron Donald and Fletcher Cox, continue to retire from the game of football, Cameron Heyward remains committed to his career on the gridiron. On the latest episode of The Pivot Podcast, the 14-year veteran explained the motivations behind his decision to continue to lace up his cleats. Asserting that he is “chasing greatness,” the four-time All-Pro detailed that,

“There’s a bunch of dudes that I have a bunch of respect for that I want to be able to be amongst. I want my career to be amongst them and to say I was one of the best players at my position.”

With seven Pro Bowl selections to his name, Heyward is certainly well on his way toward doing so. Throughout his lengthy tenure in the league, the former Ohio State Buckeye has collected 88.5 sacks.

Averaging seven sacks a season, he only needs to play for two more years in order to surpass the likes of Warren Sapp and Mario Williams to enter the top 50 rankings for most career sacks in NFL history.

The 2023 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner has amassed a career total of 718 combined tackles, with 199 QB hits to his name. Having forced eight fumbles while recording two interceptions, Heyward has been a staple of the black and gold’s defense since first being selected by the Steelers with the 31st overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Having witnessed nine playoff appearances since joining the roster, Heyward has certainly experienced both the highs and the lows of the AFC North’s longest-standing member.

Heyward recalls his mother’s help during his battle with depression

Prior to joining the ranks of Ohio State, Heyward admitted that he was unknowingly in the throws of depression. In noting that his mother helped him handle discussions with potential coaches as a result of him wanting to stay in bed and not answer his phone, Heyward suggested that “she was like my agent.”

Thankfully, his mother’s hard work and dedication were ultimately rewarded by the Steelers on draft night. After struggling to overcome his own personal issues for numerous years, Heyward believes that his journey to the league was more akin to a storybook than anything else.

“I had teammates and family around me that just took me out of that time. It’s funny how the world works where you think that you’ve lost somebody, and then you get drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and you’re like ‘Damn! How did this happen?’ …It’s a movie man, you can’t make that stuff up.

Now in a much better place, Heyward finds himself preparing for the 2025 regular season. Hoping to guide the Steelers towards their first playoff win since the 2016 postseason and bring a definitive end to the near decade-long drought, the 35-year-old pass rusher is certainly on the doorstep of becoming one of the most beloved pass rushers in Pittsburgh history.