Cam Heyward isn't practicing because he wants a raise

But is it really? Cam told them when he signed his contract. If he has an all pro season, which he did, he was coming back to the table, which he is doing.

That means to me he wasn't completely satisfied with the contract he signed but did it for the benefit of the team. That's just me reading into it obviously, I get that. But that is exactly what it seems like to me. I would pay him enough to put him in the top 10 for 2025.

 

You are 100% correct. Sign the contract, play it out. You signed it. You didn’t have too. These players who are sitting out, sitting in, whatever, they should be blacklisted in some form or fashion. Sounds like tortious interference on the part of their agent. A team needs to pursue that route against an agent and they will throw the whole damn industry into an uproar, but would stop this stuff when the agent is financially responsible for decisions that affect the team.

 

He hinted at sitting out.
I like the crap out Cam, he's a leader, a great guy, very solid defender, etc..... he is a face of the Steelers.

But come on man. You're 36.
They could move money up easy enough, so this is a double edged sword.

A while back, I wanted to get Johnathan Allen from the Commanders.
He has a lot of Cam's attributes and plays like him.
I would have hated to see Cam in a different uniform but if I could have wrangled Allen it would make that move less bitter.

Come on guys, fix him up with something to get him on the field.
I might give him a 2-year deal front loaded with incentives. I mean 37 and 38 year old DT's aren't really dominant.

 

I think the Owners need to start making the Guaranteed Contract work for them. If a player is under a guaranteed contract, then that player should be forced to stick to the contract.

A 3 year Guaranteed contract, should work for both the player and the team.

 

The Problem is "Player Empowerment"

While I agree that I would want to keep my 'faces of the franchise' - guys that have given it their all.
The NFL just isn't that way anymore.
I'll choke these words out; Cam really should have been traded.
That actually made me ill.

But that's what the NFL is, you rotate the best possible players..
Pay them 1 or 2 contracts, trade them at peak value to get more picks

I'm not sure a binding contract will work.. I'm all for it though.
But I also believe in taking care of my players. 'Likely to achieve' Incentives are nice.

 

The only sticky part in that is that it lays the fault at the feet of the player and his agent instead of it being all groups problem. In the last 15 years or so the system has gone from broken bad to broken worse. Players holdout for more money and sign these megadeals. The front office then used restructuring and the new fad voidable years in order to have room to make things work. The restructuring gives the player money up front before the season even begins, the owners get out of a sticky situation which they can then have options. Players and agents dont realize that restructuring increases the likelihood that you could be cut in the next season or within the length of the contract they signed because no wants to pay a 30 yr old TE 15 million a season, a 40 yr old QB over 40 million, an aging DPOY, 2 time SB champ, generational talent at safety between 10-15 million a year in the twilight of their careers. It's easier to cut them and take a dead money hit. So then it becomes why should the player honor the contract as signed when the Front Office/Owners have tools galore to not honor it themselves. It's a badly broken crap system.

 

the owners CAN make the contract work for them. The owners can simply refuse to renegotiate, or offer the initial contract.

What else do you need in a contract?

Don't tell me you want security teams to put players on the field at gun point.

 

yes. It's a group problem. The group collectively sets the rules and abides by the rules. If the rules are messed up, it's a group problem.

I am 100% sure owners would screw over every single player if the rules allowed them to.

I don't get the sentiment of why fans expect players to go above and beyond the rules for sentimental reasons.

it's a business after all.

 

They issued arrest warrants for state house members in Texas to make them vote

 

Greed.

All, and don’t forget to contribute to Cam’$ Charity!

 

I almost wrote that but then decided to avoid touchy topics.

it would be awesome, though, to see an armored truck roll out Cam and other players to midfield.

kind of like gladiators 2000 years ago. NFL would make so much more money.

 

Did the team say that they would re-negotiate if he did? He can tell the team whatever he wants, we don't have to agree.

We made him the highest paid 35+ year old defender ever. Ever. It's not like we de-valued him. I get that he's still a great player, but his game could literally fall off a cliff at any moment. And he's the 22nd highest paid IDL in the league only 7 guys over 30 are paid more and only Javon Hargrave is paid more that is 32 or over (32 years old). He's 4-5 years older than the oldest guys that get paid. The team has to protect itself too. I get where both sides are coming from, but there is zero reason to be doing this. He wants more money... so do I. The Steelers don't have to give it to him.

I'd tell him he can sit out all he wants, we can turn some unguaranteed dollars to guaranteed ones... but that's it. We expect you to be on the field week 1. If he doesn't show up, then strip him of his captaincy and put him on the commissioner's exempt list. Whatever.

 

I think its going the way it should. Cam can threaten to withhold his services and the team can just let him sit and do nothing about it.... If we want Cam back we can give in some way, and if he sits out too long and loses a season, he might torpedo the back end of his career. Both sides are using whatever leverage they have. Nobody is forcing Cam to play, but the team also doesn't have to bend over at his every whim.

 

I actually tried to be careful how I worded that

 

I couldn't figure out good wording so gave up.

English not good by me.

 

If Cam sits out then a young front 3 of Benton, Black and Harmon is a pretty good place to be in. The trouble would be the depth behind them.

 

get your old azz on the field. just because you played at a pro bowl level doesn't mean you should get more. you are supposed to play at a pro bowl level for the money they paid you. does he think that was play half azzed money?

 

If Cam wanted to have a renegotiated contract if he made the pro bowl, then he should have included that in the contract he just signed! I love Cam and hope he retires a Steeler. He's an old man and he's already making a lot of money. Play the contract you signed. He will be missed if he doesn't play, but good news is, he isn't a team breaking piece any longer. All that said, I want to see him in there.

 

Also, 93.7 The Fan getting on him. They started a poll with the public… 52% say trade him, esp after the shi t he pulled last year about going to Cleveland
Once again he also disappeared in playoffs as usual

 

mare to this than any of us know, but did his agent address this with Omar at the start of the season? Cam sitting out only hurts him, he does not get paid and the fine has to be paid, is he willing to lost 10 million plus to get paid 5 million more? Some guys are, but at 36 you do not have many 'more' times or opportunities. They have allocated a lot of cash in this years CAP, can they make something work certainly, but you do it with one guy, Cam included, you start the process of every player who had success doing this.

While not exactly the same and in a different time, Franco tried to pull this, he got paid by Seattle and the end result was prettty ugly.

 

Bob Nutting agrees with you When I was younger I couldn't believe a player would want to leave the Steelers. The 70's I never gave the money side of sports a thought. When your small city wins 6 Championships in 9 years you think it's forever.. Then I learned of the almighty dollars effect on the sports world.

 

Him and TJ both might as well be in street clothes once the playoffs start. Milk cartons.

 

I wasn't in the room. But...Cam said he told them that if he made all pro, he was coming back to the table. He made all pro. Omar and others should have expected Cam to come back to the table. Is it a bad look on Cam, or on those that didn't believe him?

 

The market goes up every year. He should have held out last year then. That’s his problem. If he feels that he deserves more, tell us where you wanna go and we’ll send you there to get paid. This organization has forced out a lot of greats and Cam isn’t better than any of those guys.

 

He was paid $13.45M for in March for most of his 2025 compensation. Now he's threatening to sit out regular season games. Doesn't seem like it should be legal to hold on to that money if you choose to not perform the services paid for.