Cameron Heyward wants to stick around with Steelers in 2024 — and, if healthy, maybe beyond

If his body cooperates and the finances can be ironed out, Cameron Heyward would like to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024.

Heyward, though, isn’t selling himself short. He sees no reason why a 14th season wearing the black and gold would be his last.

“In my mind, I want to play more than just one more season,” Heyward said Tuesday, a day after the Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs by the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round. “I just have to get healthy first.”

By returning for 2024, Heyward would become one of 10 players to suit up for the Steelers in at least 14 seasons. If he can coax an additional season out of a body that will be 35 in May, Heyward would join Mike Webster as the only ones to play for the Steelers for 15 seasons. Ben Roethlisberger is the only one to play longer, topping out at 18 seasons.

Heyward has unfinished business. When Heyward was selected by the Steelers in the first round of the 2011 draft, the franchise was only months removed from a Super Bowl appearance against Green Bay. In the ensuing 13 seasons, the Steelers have gotten to a conference championship game just once — and that was in 2016 when Heyward was sidelined by a torn pectoral muscle.

The 31-17 loss to the Bills marked a fourth consecutive first-round playoff exit, and the seven-year drought without a playoff win is the franchise’s longest since the Steelers’ first appearance in 1972.

“That’s the thing that bugs me the most at night, not having an opportunity to win a Super Bowl,” he said after the game at Highmark Stadium. “Seeing all my teammates before that have won it, seeing the culture and tradition here, every man should feel that way. It stings to be out of the playoffs, to not have a chance to continue to move on and, man, I’m not ready to give that up.”

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A three-time first-team All-Pro, Heyward saw his string of six consecutive Pro Bowl selections end this year when a groin injury and trip to injured reserve limited him to 11 games. His productivity also slipped, as Heyward totaled two sacks after amassing 10.5 in 2022.

Heyward said the groin problems nagged him the entire season, the extent of which he didn’t detail until this week.

“I was told at the time it was a 12-week process, and we came back in six weeks,” said Heyward, who was injured after playing 14 snaps in the season-opening loss to San Francisco. “I fought the doctors every week. … I just wanted to put my hand in that pile. The flip side of that is I put my body through a lot of pain this year. It was, ‘Get me to the stadium and go from there.’

“I can’t be doing that year-in and year-out.”

Upon his return, Heyward spent most practice weeks as a limited participant or bystander because he didn’t want to put more stress on his groin.

“It wasn’t by choice that I didn’t practice,” he said. “It was getting me to the game, and I don’t like playing football that way.”

Teammates appreciated Heyward’s resolve to play through pain during a second half in which the Steelers lost three games in a row before rallying to win their final three to make the playoffs with a 10-7 record.

“To be able to go out on the field and know you’re not 100% is an awful feeling, but I respect the hell out of Cam as a professional, as a friend, as a leader,” outside linebacker and fellow defensive captain T.J. Watt said. “He goes about his business the right way. At the end of the day, the guys want to win.”

Heyward revealed for the first time that his groin was sore and had “mini-tears” since his arrival at training camp. He tried to heal it with rest while playing just 10 snaps in the preseason as a concession. Cleared to play in the season opener, he hobbled off the field when the groin was torn off the bone, requiring surgery.

It was just the second extended absence for Heyward in his career, the other being the Steelers’ run to the AFC title game in 2016.

“I tried to squeeze a whole offseason into six weeks to get back,” he said. “If I can do that (over a normal offseason), I feel like I can be better than I was this season. My body can heal. I don’t think it’s a lack of, ‘I can’t play at a higher level.’ I think I can.”

Before he gets the chance to find out, he’ll likely have to restructure a contract that has one year remaining on it and carries a $22.4 million salary cap hit.

“Obviously, I’d like to be here, but when your number is called, your number is called,” he said. “It’s a business first, and I get that. We’ll cross that road when we get there.”