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One of the big stories of the offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers has been the status of Cam Heyward’s contract situation. Heyward has been sitting out of training camp practices in hopes of restructuring his contract to a figure that would pay him more, but thus far, nothing has materialized between the two sides.
The saga has caused some to wonder whether Heyward may consider holding out of games as the regular season quickly approaches, but Steelers fans got a positive update in that regard on Tuesday.
“Cameron Heyward is working at practice in pads for the first time since his contract dispute became public on Aug. 7,” reported Mike DeFabo of The Athletic on X, formerly Twitter.
DeFabo also noted that “(Steelers head coach) Mike Tomlin confirmed that Cam Heyward worked into team periods today.”
Recently, Heyward spoke on his mindset amid the dispute.
“It’s hard for me, after the year that I had, to really justify playing at the number I’m playing at,” Heyward said, per DeFabo. “I understand I signed a contract last year, but to be completely honest with you, when I signed that, I told them that when I have an all-pro year, expect me to come back.
“I think everybody giggled a little bit, but in my head, I used it as motivation to go out there and prove it.”
At age 36, Heyward remains one of the elite defensive linemen in the NFL, having been a stalwart of the Steelers’ strong defense for several years now.
It remains to be seen whether the two sides will come to an agreement on some sort of restructuring of his contract, and if they don’t, how that will play into Heyward’s availability for the regular season.
However, Tuesday’s development was certainly a positive sign for Steelers fans.
Pittsburgh kicks off its regular season on August 7 against the New York Jets on the road.
The post Steelers’ Cam Heyward pads up at practice for first time amid contract dispute appeared first on ClutchPoints.
