Not able to extend Heyward?

https://stillcurtain.com/2020/07/16/cameron-heyward-steelers-chris-jones/

Would suck pretty bad if this was true. Imo they need to keep Watt, Heyward, Bush, and Minkah on this defense to build around.

Heyward is not only a great lineman but the captain.

We'll see not good news if they lose Cam Heyward.

 

Cam heyward is not going anywhere. They will find a way to work around the cap. I would be surprised if he doesn’t retire as a Steeler.

They certainly will have a major cap issue in 2021 however. The cap was presumed to be going up by around $40m but that’s now off the table with Covid19. I expect that they were depending on that money.

Cam Heyward, TJ Watt and Matt Feiler should be prioritised to re-sign imo. They will have to do restructures with Ben and others to get that done.

Juju, Conner, Villanueva, Hilton, Sutton, Dupree and some others are all out of contract after 2020 and there is absolutely no way you can keep all of them. Who stays and who goes depends on multiple factors, pay expectations, performance on the field etc.

 

Dupree's almost 16 million salary would come off the books in 2021, I doubt Heyward would get a similar contract to Chris Jones, he's 31 and I don't see the Steelers paying him that much.

 

I agree. There is no way Heyward getting Chris Jones money at this point.

 

Cam won’t get an $85m extension at this stage but the year to year figure may not be that far off Jones.

My guess is a three year extension with two ‘real’ years and an option year at the end. That will help to keep the cap figure down.

It depends on Cams own intentions of course. He may not wish to play that long, we are seeing guys go earlier more often now for all sorts of reasons.

If he has been even somewhat sensible with what he has made up to now he should never have to worry about money again. The SuperBowl window is probably 1-2 seasons and he may not want to be part of a rebuild without Ben.

 

Is Chris Jones better than cam?

 

Day one or over a 4 year contract?

 

I don’t know... both? Lol

 

He is a comparable player to Heyward right now and he is five years younger. The age difference makes him a hell of a lot more valuable.

 

Jones is a beast, very disruptive and as mentioned 5 years younger then Cam. Better? At this point yes. But, Cam is a savy vet and still has dominate upside. A staple on this D Line. As far as extending him who knows at this point. Not much cap space with Ben and the one year wonder taking a big chunk and the uncertainty of what this season will bring with this virus on the upswing. Could be franchised next season and then offered a 3 year deal. They could extend him possibly this season and majorly backload the deal pushing more cap into the future. I wouldn't do it. He is signed for this season so they have some options.

They will offer Watt the 5th year option next season. A monster deal the following year. With the one year wonder off the books it should be able to make some room hopefully next season.

 

Both. $85M - wow! How do the chiefs have so much money?

 

Until the new contract, they had their superstar quarterback on his rookie deal. Even his new deal isn't as burdensome as it looks on the surface.

 

Mahomes is still on his rookie deal, that helps a lot with the salary cap when a team doesn't have to pay a QB 30-40 million a year.

 

They should offer Cam a 3 year extension at about 52-54 million.

 

Mahomes deal doesn’t really start to impact their cap meaningfully until 2023, at which point they are hoping Covid19 will be gone and the new TV deal will have well and truly kicked in and the cap will be higher.

Chiefs struck gold with Mahomes but I must say they are putting the team around him and managing everything from the cap, to free agency, to the draft very very well.

 

The Chiefs still can't afford everybody they want to keep like every other contender in the NFL. They also have to let talent walk out the door.

Edit: Chiefs spend $100 million on their top 6 cap hits (DE, WR, WR, FS, DT, LT)

Steelers $100 million on their top 8 cap hits (QB, OLB, DE, G, DT, CB, LT, C)

Ben is about $5 million above their top money pit.
$23,750,000 opposed to $19,300,000

Steelers have three olinemen in their top cap hits, 6 in the trenches. (no wonder many are upset with the oline last year)
Chiefs have one, 3 in the trenches.

The Chiefs let their trench guys walk usually.

Kelsey comes in at their #8 top cap hit. (blasphemy)

JuJu should replace Dud Dupree as #2 on the Steelers top cap hit if he sticks around. Maybe #3 depending on Cam.

Edit to edit:. Mahomes is special, Fat Andy hit a home run. I still have faith in our SB winning war horse Ben.

 

Cameron Heyward is likely to stay. The other players are the ones of concern. JuJu is the biggest one. That said, between JuJu and James Conner, I will take JuJu as more weapons are needed through the air to compete for a title.


For that matter, Big Ben needs all the help he can get. Giving him JuJu long term is a good start. Be it Mason or whomever the successor is, JuJu, Diontae and Chase will be there for him.

 

Agreed...For as great as a story Conner is, I wouldn't extend him...So many injuries, and his style is not conducive to not getting injured...power runner with not much speed is a real gamble

 

I would assume that the team sees Benny Snell as the next one rather than what they saw in Conner. Then again, Snell seems more so shifty and a bit more powerful than Conner. The issue with Snell is the same as Conner; speed.


Anthony McFarland can alleviate this but how often?! We will have to wait and see.

 

That is interesting because of the two Conner and Juju I think Conner would take a lower amount to stay with the team whereas Juju will have a higher number. Not saying anything about their play or what they would bring to the team in a second contract just the way they are in regards to the team. Of course what do I know, I didn't think the self destruction of Antonio Brown was possible either.

 

It probably flys under the radar that Conner is the best receiving back that they have. He is actually very good at that. With better QB play in 2020 I wonder could we see his role evolve a little from the every down back that pounds the rock? I think there is enough evidence there to suggest that he can’t do that job long term in the NFL.

He might be able to offer a very credible threat on RPO’s however, if Snell is the one pounding on early downs. Just a theory.

 

I think Cam will get signed. I have a hard time thinking they move on from Cam.
Watt is gonna get a big deal for sure, you sack the QB's you get the $$$ in today's NFL.

Juju, is a tough one. I'm sure the Steelers would like to keep him, but how can you offer a deal after last season, and why wouldn't he want to bet on himself and have a big year.
If he goes crazy like 1400-1500 yards, and 8-10 TD's he will make huge money. If it's 1,000-1,100 and 6 TD's the money won't be huge and Steelers might keep him.
You could always use the franchise tag too and work out a deal if he went on a nuts year.
I think with the drafting of Claypool you can see that the Steelers aren't very confident Juju will be staying long term under either scenario.


Conner who I love, he's a good guy, good character, local guy great story, I just don't have faith on him playing 14-16 games healthy. Going to be hard to keep him around, plus if he goes nuts how can they afford to keep him and he would want to test the market.

 

I think that’s the way to extend his career because unfortunately it looks like he ain’t up to the constant wear and tear you get as RB1. He could be amazing in a well constructed committee however.

I did see an interview with MT lately where he stated unequivocally that JC is the feature back, but from where I’m standing I think he could be one of the best in the league on second and third downs if they trust Benny Snell to be the sledgehammer.

 

Oh right, i don´t think that Matt Feiler is a priority because he has 27 or 28 years old, we can get another tackle in the draft easy because the steelers usually have a great work with O-line and linebackers. JuJu and Conner with Sutton are priority after TJ and Heyward because they´re elemental in the offense and defense, Sutton makes a good job in the slot position and also he can play very well in nickel formation. JuJu is a receiver that Big Ben knows well, they worked from 2 years and i don´t know why are people who dislike JuJu, the last season play in X routes (routes that Antonio Brown made) and well we know the story, he don´t have the enough speed to burn cornerbacks like Jalen Ramsey, Tre´Davious White, Marlon Humphrey, etc. You need to put JuJu in the slot because there is the position where he can run and catch free. That was a bad work by the OC Randy Fitchner, trying to convert JuJu to an Antonio Brown. Conner is a good running back when is healthy, we saw it in 2018 when ran for almost 1,000 yards and in week 10 before he gets injured, Conner had better stats than Christian McCaffrey so if James makes a season of 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns he will deserve a contract.

 

That's a good point about Conner. Snell has a ways to go in that regard. That is going to be important to keep Ben healthy if Big Al still on the field with the step he has lost.