Supply — Heyward agrees to revised deal, will play for Steelers

PITTSBURGH — Deadlines spur action, and less than 24 hours before their season opener against the New York Jets, the Pittsburgh Steelers and defensive captain Cam Heyward agreed to a reworked contract that adds more than $3 million in incentives to his deal this year, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday night.

The deal allows Heyward, 36, to earn up to $18 million in 2025, up from the $14.75 million he was initially due in the two-year contract extension he signed a year ago.

With the contract dispute resolved, Heyward now will play Sunday against the Jets.

The Steelers broke multiple team precedents in reworking Heyward’s deal, not only in tinkering with a contract two years before its expiration, but also in offering him incentives, something previously only done for their quarterbacks.

“Not a lot of players have gotten incentives over here,” Heyward said Friday, prior to the contract’s resolution. “A lot of it is stemmed from just quarterbacks. There’s different ways to handle the situation. I’m all for proving it. I’m not running away from it. My career has always been about proving it, and if it was that route, I’d go for it, but got time, see what happens.”

According to OverTheCap.com, his contract’s previous $14.5 million average annual value is ranked 23rd for interior defensive linemen. Heyward said he told the Steelers he planned to revisit the contract after the 2024 season if he earned an All-Pro nod. Heyward then requested a reworked contract in February following his fourth All-Pro season, in which he recorded eight sacks, 11 batted passes and 20 quarterback hits after an injury-shortened 2023 campaign.

Heyward was a brief hold-in late in training camp amid frustrations about the state of negotiations, but he returned to practice and participated in both individual and team periods beginning Aug. 19.

He was a full participant in every day of practice this week, except for his usual veteran’s day off Thursday, and he wasn’t listed with a game designation in the final injury report Friday.

“There’s loud voices, and everybody has an opinion, but I can’t control that,” he said Friday. “If you know how I work, you know how I play. That’s all that matters. I have to make a decision for my family. This is a business. I cannot play this game forever and just like I’m maximized on the field, I want to be maximized outside of it. I don’t want to be taken care of that way. It’s not being greedy, it’s just the way this game is. It’s not for long, NFL. So I would tell every guy, maximize your opportunities and keep going from there.”