Veteran Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward raised eyebrows and generated headlines when he said on the latest edition of his “Not Just Football” podcast that his message to quarterback Aaron Rodgers is:
“Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t.”
During a Tuesday appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan, Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor of ESPN suggested Heyward isn’t the only Pittsburgh player displeased with the state of the team’s quarterback room.
“This just signals how exhausted Cam Heyward is of this storyline,” Pryor explained, as shared by Joe Clark of Steelers Depot. “The whole team is, which, this to me, is a reflection of the angst in the locker room toward the organization and toward the decision-makers for how this quarterback situation has played out. That they are this far into it, they don’t have an answer.”
Heyward and head coach Mike Tomlin were “big advocates” of the Steelers signing Russell Wilson to a team-friendly contract last March. More recently, Pittsburgh had from the start of the club’s offseason on Jan. 12 through the beginning of the legal tampering period on March 10 to get a new deal done with either Wilson or backup Justin Fields.
The Steelers seemingly couldn’t prevent Fields from accepting a two-year, $40M deal with $30M guaranteed offered by the New York Jets. Meanwhile, there’s currently no sign that Pittsburgh is all that interested in running it back with Wilson for another year.
On Tuesday, NFL reporter Armando Salguero of Outkick mentioned that a Minnesota Vikings side that went 14-3 with Sam Darnold this past season is “giving Rodgers stuff to think about” after the idea of Minnesota signing the future Hall of Famer “was actually discussed internally.” Many assumed even before Darnold signed with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency that the Vikings were ready to turn to 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie season while recovering from a full meniscus repair.
As of March 18, the Steelers would enter training camp with longtime NFL backup Mason Rudolph as their QB1.
“Plan B isn’t going on the timeline that they planned,” Pryor added about Heyward’s reaction to the situation. “And this, to me, is a culmination of all of that.”
On Monday, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted that Wilson’s “preference is to re-sign with the Steelers.” Tomlin and Co. may feel they have to give Wilson a call sooner rather than later to keep others in the locker room happy unless Rodgers makes it known he’d rather play for Pittsburgh than any other club.
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