Steelers, Heyward agree to new deal
Steelers all offseason, and they took care of business with a week to spare.
The Steelers don’t negotiate contracts once the regular season begins, and they didn’t want to let one of their best players to test free agency in March.
Heyward, who turned 31 in May, has registered 29 of his 53 career sacks in the past three seasons. He made All- Pro twice in the past three years, including in 2019 when he set his career high in tackles with 83.
Heyward was the Steelers first- round pick in 2011. He didn’t start a game in his first two seasons in the league, but he has been a consistent force as a starter since the 2013 season. He has become one of the most dominant interior defensive linemen over the past three seasons.
The Steelers have several other players entering the final years of their contracts, including receiver JuJu Smith- Schuster, running back James Conner, cornerback Mike Hilton and offensive linemen Matt Feiler and Alejandro Villanueva.
All five are set to become unrestricted free agents next year unless the Steelers sign them in the next week.
It’s going to be a difficult task to do another extension, though. The Steelers already created cap space last week when offensive lineman Dave DeCastro converted $ 3.85 million in salary into a signing bonus.
The salary cap figure for next season is not definitely known at this point, but the floor will be $ 175 million. It’s $ 198 million this year, a figure that was determined in March and remained unchanged throughout the pandemic.
The NFL set the floor earlier this summer, but there is a chance the cap could be higher than $ 175 million depending on the revenue that is generated this season. Many teams, including the Steelers, will not have fans at home games this month.
They are holding out hope that fans can attend later in this season.
Ticket revenue, along with parking concessions and merchandise sales account for close to one- third of the league’s revenues on a yearly basis.
The Steelers have a number of other big contracts to negotiate in coming years. All- Pro outside linebacker T. J. Watt is a candidate to be extended next year when he will be playing on the fifthyear option in his rookie contract. All- Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is due for a new contract the following year.