The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the best defensive tackles in the game.
Cam Heyward has a strong case to be in the Hall of Fame once it’s all said and done, and the Steelers are most definitely going to retire his number and include him in their Ring of Honor shortly after his retirement.
However, that doesn’t mean he’s going to do whatever he wants there.
If anything, the Steelers will look to protect him and keep him out of harm’s way as much as possible.
That’s why playing offense won’t be a possibility.
In a recent chat with Jeffrey Dean Morgan in his podcast, the legendary defensive tackle admitted that, while OC Arthur Smith hinted at the possibility of using him on offense, head coach Mike Tomlin won’t allow that to happen:
“H*** no! He wouldn’t let me do anything on offense. Arthur Smith was around me and was like ‘Hey, we need to sneak you in on offense.’ And Mike [Tomlin] was like ‘we ain’t doing that. That’s not happening.’ He really did,” Heyward said.
Heyward is coming off a bounce-back year.
Several fans and analysts thought he was on his way out after a down year in 2023, and there were even rumors about the team being ready to move on from him.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
He’s a strong leader on and off the field, and he should be given an opportunity to walk away from the game on his own terms after everything he’s done for the organization.
As such, Tomlin and the Steelers will make sure that he’s fresh and ready to roll when the defense takes the field, and they will leave the trickery and surprise plays to pretty much anybody else on the team.
