Is Cam next?

I disagree. Cam can play. He played on one leg the 2nd half of the season and for 1 playoff game. He has been a team captain, voted by his peers, 7 times. He is the reigning Walter Payton Man of the year.

He had his surgery and is recovering in order to play another season. Cam will show up to TC ready to work, maybe for the last time, but he will work like it's his first time.

So yes, Cam has earned our patience and understanding. If he says he's going to be ready to go when the season starts, I have to believe him. Because he's earned that level of trust.

"Life in the Big City". Nonsense!

 

How about watt? Guys get injured. It's one season.

 

we shall see what happens with Cam. But we need a center really bad.

 

Good grief.

Ironically, no one seems to be pushing for these guys to be paid above and beyond their contract when they outperform it in their early years, which is a regular occurrence for the type of player that an organization later signs to this kind of money through their mid-30s. Instead, the thought is that the players just need to give it back. Sounds fair, if you're an owner.

As for Ben's situation, heading into 2021 he had made over $252M in salary when he took a $5M cut. Heading into next year Cam has made $115M. So a $2.3M cut in Cam's pay is what is needed to calm the masses?

I'm just not understanding it.

 

Because of the amount of time he now spends on the sideline even when healthy. Cam is no longer an every down player. I have no problem with Cam moving to a backup roll, but he needs to start thinking like a backup. I just remember watching him in the Playoff game standing on the sideline trying to catch his breath.

2023 39.24% of Defensive snaps.

 

I love Cam. Great player. Great person. But there’s no way the Steelers can let a player who is declining rapidly and aging out eat up so much cap space when there are a multitude of other needs that need addressing.

 

I guess this is the operative word of Brice's argument. He's getting dangerously close to having players giving money back because they missed a quarter while being medically evaluated.

It's common knowledge now that Heyward not only missed six games last year, but was less than 100% when he came back. While he is 35 and should't be expected to be posting performances above that of prime years, the fact still remains that entering last year he was performing at a high level, and the snap counts Mashburn posted for 2021 and '22 were nearly equal to that of Aaron Donald. Or should he be taking a pay cut, too?

The point is that while Cam may no longer be in his prime, I don't think the organization thought he would be at this point in his career when they offered the contract. It's commonplace for players to see an underpay early in their careers, with a potential overpay later on. Quoting injury-affected statistics from 2023 to project Cam's 2024 would be as likely to be wrong as someone that pointed to 2017 and expected a repeat.

 

My question is, where the heck would he want to go play?

He was born here, spent his whole career here, started a family here, his brother is on the team. Went to college across the street in Ohio…

and he has maybe two years max … MAYBE!

Where is he gonna go?

 

You do realize he wasn't healthy at any point in the 2023 season, right? He wasn't close to 100 percent when he returned. He fought to be out there when he probably should have missed more or all of the season. Why don't you respect it when one of the team's leaders guts out an injury to play?

 

At his age, what makes you think it will be considerably better?

He admitted, at his age, he wasn’t even able to come into the season healthy.

It’s not like he broke a bone and he will be 100% when he comes back, this is becoming old man type stuff that could quite easily happen again.

 

Aaron Donald is 3 years younger than Cam, and I think they are already starting to talk about Donald taking a pay cut or getting released because of his decline in play. Like Cam there has also been retirement talk about Aaron Donald.

Cam will be 35 when the season starts, I sure hope the Steelers don't do something stupid that hurts the team's future just to keep Cam around in 2024, hoping he can make a comeback at his age.

 

I’m aware of Donald’s age; it’s part of the reason I used him as an example - Cam kept in his area of snap counts until his injury last year. And Donald’s play hasn’t fallen off of a cliff.

I don’t understand what you think the team could do concerning Heyward that would be ‘stupid’ and hurt the team’s future. Kicking $9M down the road in void years certainly isn’t going to do it.

 

Correct. Therefore I'm not interested in spending so much for him.

 

TJ had more snaps this year vs last and the year before.

Also 29 years old vs 35 (before camp starts).

Edit: oh yeah.

 

he'll restructure if needed, they won't cut Cam.

 

I don't think he will, because he knows there's a good possibility he can't do a second year.

 

Isn’t he in the last year of his contract?

 

he is 75% of what he was in his PRIME. pay him accordingly, is all I am saying

he is OLD (er). he CANNOT bear what he did at 28. cut his pay, do the plan that was outlined by one of the other posters.

or......

just cut him.

it is what the 90's steelers did, it is HOW we remained YOUNG and competitive.

GREAT players turnover, it is a fact of the game.

Cam is one of all time fav's, by the way.

 

Donald started talking about retiring young a couple of years ago. He talked about it when the Rams won the Super Bowl. I don't ever remember hearing Heyward talk about it.

 

Cam should be talking about it - father time catches up with us all.

He is laughing to the bank. Sure - he WANTS to play - but he CAN'T play at the level he did when he was 28.

 

do you remember how he played at 32 and 33?

 

My whole aspect is why is Aaron Donald being compared to any Defensive Tackle that is currently playing; Chris Jones, Cameron Heyward, Quinnen Williams or otherwise. Aaron Donald is on the shortlist of greatest ever Defensive Players ever and never mind either the greatest or second greatest ever Defensive Tackle of all time.


Outside of J.J. Watt who did play in the same era but retired early?!.... No one else belongs in the same sentence.

 

yes - but that was WHEN he was 32 and 33 - he was not as good then as when he was when he was 28 and 29


they ALL get old......