Omar Khan had choices with veteran defensive end Cam Heyward. The Pittsburgh Steelers general manager could’ve released him and saved $16 million in salary cap ($6.4 in dead money), but he chose to let things play out.
For Heyward, that meant skipping most organized team activities (OTAs) while seeking a contract extension. There’s been communication, according to Heyward, but he hasn’t gotten one (yet). Still, he opted to show up at the practice field on Wednesday with two sessions remaining.
Does Khan regret not releasing the 35-year-old? According to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac, not one iota.
“He has no regrets at all,” Dulac answered in a June 5 chat transcript. “The Steelers intended to honor the final year of his contract and they still do. That’s what made Cam’s threat to skip OTAs for a contract extension seem so curious.”
Whether Heyward will practice when mandatory minicamp begins on Tuesday is a different story. He could be a hold-in, but we’ll see next week.
Another option Khan had was to ask Heyward to take a pay cut, as they’ve done with Ben Roethlisberger, Jerome Bettis, James Harrison and others in the past.
According to Over the Cap, the Steelers have just north of $16 million in salary cap space, so there’s really no need to ask him to — unless that is, they finally grab a top-tier receiver.
Yeah, it’s a touchy subject.
