Steelers' Cam Heyward Has Strong Feelings About The Way The Cap Increase Shouldn't Be Spent

The Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the NFL got the surprising news recently that the league increased the team's salary cap by over $30 million, to $255.4 million for the 2024 season. The news which was first reported by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, is the result of total repayment of amounts advanced by clubs and deferred by players during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes a large increase in media revenue for 2024.   

That money has fans and analysts predicting how the teams might use it best. It allows them a little more wiggle room in free agency and helps make some of those difficult decisions regarding which player to let go a little less difficult. Suddenly the decision to keep a veteran player like Diontae Johnson or Patrick Peterson, at a reduced salary, doesn't seem so outrageous. It is not just the outsiders who have opinions on how the money should be handled, the players do too. 

Steelers' Cameron Heyward Has Some Deep Thoughts About Team Spending

Recently Steelers defensive captain and long-time team veteran Cameron Heyward shared his thoughts about the salary cap increase. There has been a lot of talk on social media about how Heyward should take a pay cut to stay with the team or retire, and Heyward has been quite vocal about how much that angers him. 

On his podcast, Not Just Football With Cam Heyward, his co-host Hayden Walsh brought up the increase and said that this should make folks quit talking about Heyward's salary. Heyward said that the thing that he really thinks is great about the increase is that if teams handle the money well and spread it out, they can keep a lot of their players. He believes that teams are forced to "phase out" a lot of guys who are mid-range in price because they can't afford to keep them. He was clear there was one way in which he does not want the money spent.

"I just hope we don't get to where it's just, 'Hey, let's keep paying the quarterbacks.' You know we're getting $60 million cap hits when other players don't even have a fraction of that, you know a quarter of that," said Heyward.

The NFL has seen a sharp uptick for several years now. One agent is even predicting that we will have a quarterback making $75 million in the next few years and $100 million within the decade. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who is making $275 million with an annual salary of $55 million, is the highest-paid player by annual salary, but Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes makes nearly $200 million more with his 10-year $450 million deal.   

Heyward said that he believes the teams do better when they spread the wealth so to speak. The Steelers' third-year quarterback Kenny Pickett is still under his rookie contract, allowing the team to obtain or retain some other weapons. 

"The teams that are in the better position with this are the rookie quarterbacks or that maybe have the journeyman at quarterback because they're not just paying this crazy cap number. I think if you just keep investing in the quarterback, you're going to find yourself in the, 'Hey, when's the cap going up again?' You're going to keep trying to replenish it. I think you got to spread out your resources and make sure you're able to take care of a lot of players."

Heyward added that fans and the media make such a big deal about the cap, but as far as he is concerned it is an imaginary number. Teams are always able to restructure or extend players to create wiggle room. He said when teams say they have to cut a player because of cap space, they aren't being honest, they could move things around if they really wanted to. 

The Steelers have already released some players including Pressley Harvin III, Mason Cole, Chukwuma Okorafor, and Mitch Trubisky. Other players have been named as being on the proverbial chopping block as potential cap casualties, including Allen Robinson II and Peterson. It will be interesting to see how the Steelers choose to use that windfall of money. The team has significant needs and still has a confusing quarterback situation. The extra money may go towards snagging a veteran free agent.