The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cameron Heyward went to an agreement with under eight days to save.
Heyward, their veteran defensive lineman and captain, consented to a four-year contract extension Sunday. As per an ESPN report, the agreement incorporates $65.6 million in new pay and is viewed as the greatest absolute agreement given a defensive player older than 30 in NFL history.
Tallying the 2020 season, the deal is five years for $75.1 million.
The Steelers have since quite a while ago maintained a policy that disallowed agreement negotiations during the regular season. The Steelers are planned to open the 2020 season Monday, Sept. 14 at the New York Giants.
Heyward, 31, was named first-team All Pro for the second time last season when he had nine sacks, 21 quarterback hits, six passes defended, a constrained bumble and a mishandle recuperation as one of the included pieces of a defense that led the NFL in takeaways and sacks.
A first-round pick in 2011 and child of previous Pitt star running back Craig Heyward, Cameron Heyward has for quite some time been a leader in the Steelers’ locker room. He became a starter in his third season and signed a five-year, $59.25 million extension in 2015.
Heyward has been named to the Pro Bowl every one of the previous three seasons and was additionally All Pro in 2017. He has had 29 sacks since 2017 and his 54 career sacks are the fifth-most for an active defensive tackle in the NFL.
Heyward has missed only nine games due to injury among the 144 the Steelers have played in his career — all came as a result of a torn pectoral muscle endured in 2016.
The agreement was first revealed by ESPN and NFL Network. A message left for Heyward’s operator, Michael Perrett of Element Sports Group, was not promptly returned.
