Cam Heyward will turn 37 in May, but his 2025 season didn’t look like it belonged to a player anywhere near retirement. When the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle takes his first snap of 2026, he’ll be doing it off the back of a year that reset expectations for what an aging interior lineman can still do at a high level.
Heyward played 832 defensive snaps in 2025, the most of any player listed at defensive tackle, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, who cited snap-count data from Pro Football Reference. Smith noted Heyward did that as the oldest player at his position in the league.
“According to the snap counts at pro-football-reference.com, Heyward played 832 defensive snaps, the most for any player whose listed position is defensive tackle,” Smith wrote. “And he did that at age 36 as the oldest player in the league at his position.”
— Michael David Smith, Pro Football Talk
Smith also pointed out that Pittsburgh didn’t treat Heyward like a player who needed his snaps managed. He logged 129 special teams plays on top of his defensive workload — the sixth-most among defensive tackles league-wide, per the same report.
The Numbers Behind Heyward’s Age-Defying Year
Heyward appeared in all 17 regular-season games in 2025, finishing with 78 tackles, nine tackles for loss, nine quarterback hits and 3.5 sacks. His sack total dipped from the previous year, but his overall impact on the line didn’t. He generated 50 total pressures on the season, according to Pro Football Focus, and posted the top grade at his position leaguewide.
| Category | Grade/Rank |
|---|---|
| Overall PFF Grade | 90.4 (1st among interior defenders) |
| Pass Rush Grade | 84.9 (5th) |
| Run Defense Grade | 84.3 (2nd) |
| Defensive Snaps | 832 (1st among DTs) |
That grade profile explains why Heyward didn’t just hold up physically — he was still winning matchups. A 90.4 overall grade at his position, at his age, isn’t survival mode. It’s a player who’s still beating blocks at the line of scrimmage on a weekly basis. Heyward earned second-team All-Pro honors for the 2025 season, adding to a resume that already includes four first-team All-Pro selections and seven Pro Bowl appearances.
Fifteen Years in Pittsburgh, and Counting
Heyward has spent his entire career with the Steelers since Pittsburgh drafted him in 2011. Over that span he’s compiled 796 tackles, 208 quarterback hits and 92 sacks — the second-most sacks in franchise history behind only T.J. Watt. Pittsburgh signed Heyward to a two-year contract extension in March, a deal reportedly worth $32.25 million with $16.25 million fully guaranteed, according to Steelers beat writer Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. That extension keeps Heyward under contract through the 2027 season.
For a team that leans heavily on Heyward’s leadership in the locker room as much as his production on the field, locking him in for two more years matters beyond the stat sheet. He’s been a defensive captain for over a decade, and younger linemen on the roster have pointed to his work ethic as a standard to chase.
What Comes Next for the Steelers’ Defensive Tackle
Whether Heyward can repeat as the league’s most-used defensive tackle in 2026 is an open question. Workload management tends to catch up with players eventually, and an age-37 season carries different risk than an age-36 one. But nothing in his 2025 tape suggested a player who needs to be scaled back. If Pittsburgh keeps leaning on him the way it did last season, the Steelers are betting Heyward still has one more big year in him.
