Very few of us like seeing millionaires think they’re entitled to more millions. There are some moments however where there may be some legitimacy to their gripes. Within a matter of hours, maybe minutes, both Cam Heyward and Chris Boswell were reportedly asking for more money. In the spirit of fairness, neither of the players in question said anything publicly. Instead these reports came from the likes of Adam Schefter et al. The question for fans is whether or not Boswell and Heyward have valid requests.
Heyward Up First
Cam Heyward, at the age of 35 years old, was an All-Pro Defensive Tackle in 2024. This came on the heels of him signing a new extension. Many fans who saw this story emerge yesterday immediately started screaming “Dude got a raise LAST YEAR!!” Well, not so fast my friend. Heyward signed an extension of his then current deal. There was no new guaranteed money in the extension. He was however paid $13 million this Spring through a roster bonus.
2026 is the final year of his contract and there is ZERO guaranteed money. The only new money coming to him in ’26 is $12.9 million in a roster bonus. I’m going to surmise that Heyward would like to see some of that paid to him this year. The Steelers could maybe offer half of that and reduce the roster bonus for next year to $6 million but… I would assume Heyward is going to tell the Steelers that this is his final year. Thus his demand for more money.
Where Heyward has a legitimate gripe is this; he’s the 22nd highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL. While I don’t view him in Chris Jones’ level of play, he is absolutely worthy of being in the top 10 at the very least.
As for Boswell
Currently the 11th-highest paid kicker in the NFL via overthcap.com, Boswell has been nothing short of a savior at times for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last season he scored every point in two victories. He once scored every point in a postseason win as well. Boswell has made 88% of his career field goal attempts and has been stellar in his PATs and kickoffs as well.
Yes, there were two seasons in which Boswell had unusual struggles. In 2018 (65%) and 2022 (71%) he was about as bad as he could be but those seasons were also filled with injury issues as well. Being the gamer that he is, Boswell wasn’t going to step aside and let someone else do his job over what he saw as something he could overcome.
Not that it should matter, but let’s recall that Boswell was a nobody. The Steelers had gone through several kickers following the injury to Shaun Suisham and they finally settled on the former Rice University kicker and the rest is history. I point this out simply to say that both the Steelers and Boswell have been good for each other and that should count for something.
What Will Happen?
Steelers’ General Manager Omar Khan had to know this was coming especially in regards to Boswell. A GM’s job is far more than just dealing with expiring contracts or looking for new talent. My guess is that you’ll see an extension that lowers his cap hit slightly but also puts him in the same area as Harrison Butker at around $6.4 million per season. I would be surprised if something didn’t get done here prior to the regular season kicking off in New York.
Heyward will be a tougher agreement to reach in my opinion. There are things that none of us currently know about what the Steelers Front Office and Heyward have discussed. Is this his last season? If he does declare that will the Steelers demand that should he change his mind there won’t be anything new contractually? With Heyward currently just doing individual drills something will have to give before the September opener.
While both guys certainly have fair arguments here the one thing I don’t like is how these things were made public. I’m not blaming them because I have no idea who leaked the information to Adam Schefter. I just miss the days when these things were handled in-house.
