FIRST TAKE | Should Steelers be worried about the Cam Heyward contract situation? – Stephen A.
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This one is very difficult for me, Molly. I think there is justification because of the production and where he is considerably amongst all dackles. He’s still one of the best. This is hard for the Pittsburgh Steelers cuz it’s a age vet, but he said it right there and I’m going to take Cam for his word for it. I happen to know him. I don’t know Cam to be a liar and said when I have a AllPro year, we going to come back to the table. So, if that is the case, he should be asking to be compensated as one of the top guys in the league. And then again, organizationally, right, like there’s a there’s a lot you have to do, a lot you have to process. You just paid TJ Watt as well. So, Cam is well within his right if that was what he told this organization at the time of the other extension. I think he’s justified. Do I understand why the organization might be like, “Wait a minute, we just gave you money.” of course, but as a player, I’m always, for the most part, I’m gonna side with the players. You have a finite window where you can maximize your leverage. And in Cam’s case, he feels like he can maximize it. The Steelers seem to be allin. They don’t go very far without him, and that’s what he knows. He’s been named the seven Pro Bowls in the last eight years. He’s a leader inside the locker room as well. A consmate professional, a model citizen, um, who produces at a high level. He had a muscle strain. And what do you do? You come to him because he had missed time. He was limited to 11 games the 2023 season. You came to him to ask him to take a pay cut restructures deal. He does so, goes out there, plays with an injury, and still turns around and says to you, “When I have an allp pro year, expect me to come back.” Come back. Yep. Okay. So, he didn’t lie. He didn’t mislead. He just produced. You owe him that. He produced. He You owe him that. TJ, where were the Steelers without him? Well, the leadership in that locker room is compromised. Uh the leadership on the defensive side of the ball. That puts more of an onus on TJ Watt. Um that’s not good. Um and he’s a veteran and we know this. I I think that it would be it would be a big loss to have him. Yes. Cam Haywood had eight sacks last year. Yes, he did. This is not somebody we talking about. Give me something. This is one of the premier defensive tackles in the NFL. And an interior line matters to them. An interior lineman. You’ve got TJ Waters, Ed Rush. He had eight sacks. He had 56 pressures and that was fourth in the league. Fourth in tackles for a loss with 12. He also batted down more passes than any other defensive lineman in the National Football League with 11. And considering how pathetic and Steeler’s offense was, you definitely needed every bit of production he gave you. Beyond just the stats, as somebody who’s been in that locker room and covers that team, Kim Hayward is that presence that you go to in the locker room, good and bad. When the team is careening, when the team is on a 10-ame winning streak, damn, put it all in perspective. That’s what you are paying for. Not just it’s the Terry McLaren. It’s not just the production. It’s what do you mean in that line? Gota leave it there. And do you vibe with the Steelers in a new deal? During a star-studded blue carpet premiere of Netflix documentary America’s team, the gambler in the Cowboys uh last night in Hollywood, Hall of Famer, three-time Super Bowl champ EMTT Smith spoke on the distractions caused by contract situations like Micas. And he knows from his own experience. Take a listen. They had to answer these questions every day, right? So, they they got to deal with something that had nothing to do with the game of football. You see what I’m saying? It’s a distraction. Like these questions right now have nothing to do with this movie tonight, right? It’s a distraction. It’s what you want to talk about. It’s not really why I’m here. Stephen A, how do these distractions impact the Cowboys? Well, it gets Jerry and the Cowboy brand the attention it covers, which obviously contributes to his bottom line, which is extremely important to him. But whether he knows it or not, it’s eroding the brand as it pertains to the respect it once garnered because he’s become synonymous with the brand and people’s respect for Jerry Jones is dissipating before his very eyes. He is, if you listen to him speak and some of the things that he said, I have affection for the man. you know, the conversations that I have with him. I got a lot of love for Jerry Jones, but some of the things that have come out of his mouth over the last the last year or so, I found myself I I literally said this on this show. I looked at him and I looked at Joe Biden. I mean, when Joe Biden was losing, I said, “What what’s wrong with Jerry?” Literally, they quoted me on 105.3 in Dallas. I was like, “I’m worried about the man.” I I really was because some of the stuff that he was saying made no sense whatso Derrick Henry and others and you’re like what are you talking about? It makes no sense. But then this year it took on a life of its own because of the flagrant disrespect that he has shown towards Micah Parsons. to talk with this young man, to know who you are as a businessman, and to talk to a 25, 26 year old football player and act like that’s tantamount to an agreement without his representation. To go around talking as if you really did have an agreement. I don’t know what anybody’s talking about. That’s taking advantage. That’s bullying. And and Micah Parsons by David Mulata, I mean, this is one of the best agents in football. And to act like you you you’ve negotiated something when you haven’t even talked to that man is really really alarming. And then to go out there with EMTT Smith I’m I’m and and Michael Irvin are like, “Yo, this is not good. This is not good.” And Emtt Smith would know a thing or two what he’s talking about. I would ask everybody to go back to 1993. Look at that right there. That is Emtt Smith after signing a record deal with the Dallas Cowboys. They had won the Super Bowl and then the next year they started out 0 and2 because Jerry Jones did not want to pay him. I’m telling you right now that’s more than 30 years ago and I never saw somebody signing a new contract looking more pissed off than EMTT Smith. Look at that press conference cuz he was like we reigning Super Bowl champions. How we here? You you know Troy Aman you ain’t have no problem signing him. Years later we look at the troubles he was giving Dak Prescott. You didn’t have any problems with Tony Romo. Why is it that you you with Emtt Smith? Why was it with Dak Prescott before? Why is it with Micah Parsons now? These are the kind of things that are eroding the Cowboy brand because it’s synonymous with Jerry. Not the overall cowboy brand. You know what I mean by a swagon Kimberly. You know where I’m coming from. I’m not talking about the C. But you’re thinking about Jerry. When you think about Jerry and what Jerry is doing, he is staining the very brand he loves that he delivered three championships to that he prides himself on upholding. He’s actually going against himself and his own interest in the grand scheme of things. And it’s very very alarming to see. What I’m curious, does Jerry want us to believe that he cares about winning in Super Bowls? because it’s clear that he is putting the need for controversy and the distractions. He’s creating the distractions. And that’s what I don’t understand because when we picked on George Pickkins a few weeks ago when he said the Cowboys are synonymous with with Super Bowls and we looked and we said since when? How long has it been since they’ve won a Super Bowl? Was George Pickkins even alive the last time they won Super Bowls? I just wish Jerry would focus on the football aspect because there’s so many good players on this roster. He has they draft well. This is an organization that drafts well. If they figure out how to improve around the margins, get some running backs, get improve the interior of the defensive line, like run the football more. Like they’re actual things we should be talking about. And for Jerry to sit there and bring up the the controversies and for EMTT to say, “Why are you questioning us about this?” That’s a distraction. EMTT, it’s the owner. It’s the owner who is creating all of this. And I don’t understand why Jerry wants us to think that it’s about Super Bowls because it’s not. And we probably should talk less about the Cowboys chances of winning because the Cowboys, look at this. Look, 29 seasons. And Jerry acts as though his team makes the NFC championship and the Super Bowl every single year. And it’s just so it’s so far from the truth. So, the blueprint has been out there to win, right? We don’t we don’t have to make any um we don’t we don’t have to try to guess on if the Cowboys have been trying to win Super Bowls. They have not because the the the examples are all over the place. One of the examples Hello See?
