Cameron Heyward willing 'to be patient' about contract extension with Steelers

Cameron Heyward didn’t expect to be waiting this long into the Pittsburgh Steelers offseason to get a contract extension.

Then again, he didn’t expect a pandemic to throw a wrench into the organization’s financial planning.

And so the nine-year veteran defensive tackle bides his time without a firm understanding about when talks — or actual football — might resume.

“There’s not much more I can do with everything going on,” Heyward said Thursday. “I just have to be patient. Beside my contract, there are a lot of other people that have to get signed. Those rookies are still waiting.”

True, the Steelers have signed nobody from their draft class. Rookie contracts, though, are mostly a formality under terms of the collective bargaining agreement. Negotiating the value of a contract for a three-time Pro Bowl, two-time All-Pro player who is 31 years old is a bit trickier.

“Things have to happen, and they should,” Heyward said. “But I’ll be ready either way. If I have to go into next year knowing this might be my last year, so be it.”

The Steelers historically negotiate with players before they enter the final year of their contract. Heyward’s final year includes $9.5 million in base salary and a $13.251 million salary cap hit.

Entering the offseason, the Steelers were expected to extend Heyward’s contract so they could reduce his salary cap figure for 2020. Then, coronavirus struck and shut down professional sports.

“Early on, it was just wait here and see what happens,” Heyward said. “Everything has been halted. It definitely has halted regular NFL operations. We understand that. We understand this is uncharted territory. Football is going to pick up, and we have to be ready either way.”

What makes Heyward’s situation dicey is the salary cap might remain flat or go down in 2021, particularly if games this year are played without fans and owners lose that lucrative ticket revenue.

Among the players who also could be free agents in 2021 are outside linebacker Bud Dupree, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, tackles Matt Feiler and Alejandro Villanueva and slot cornerback Mike Hilton. Outside linebacker T.J. Watt also is a candidate for a top-dollar extension.

“Covid or not, this team isn’t going to be the same next year,” Heyward said. “There might be even more (change) going forward. We have a great group of guys, but some guys have outplayed their contracts and it’s going to be hard to bring them back. That’s just the way the game is. I want everybody to get paid as much as they can. They deserve it. This last hurrah or whatever it is, we’ve got to be ready for it.”