Mike Tomlin congratulates Cam Heyward on winning 2023 Walter Payton Man of the Year
Cam Heyward was emotional, blinking back tears as he talked about his father. But as he gave his acceptance speech for NFL Man of the Year Thursday night, he also shouted out his boss and role model.
Heyward referred to him as “Mike T” during his speech from Las Vegas. And Mike Tomlin showed the Steelers star the same sort of love and respect after Heyward won the prestigious Walter Payton award.
“Congrats to my guy Cam Heyward,” Tomlin shared on X. “I am so proud of the man you are. What you do on the field is your job. What you do off the field represents the person you are. You are a true leader on the team and in the community. I am honored to be your coach.”
Tomlin and his wife, Kiya Winston, were on hand Thursday night at the Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas to support Heyward along with several other Steelers, including TJ Watt, Joey Porter Jr and Najee Harris. Watt was a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year while Porter was up for the rookie version of it. Harris won Angry Run of the Year, an award created by Kyle Brandt of NFL Network’s Good Morning Football.
The evening oozed emotion as the league honored its most elite players and coaches, The NFL Players Choir then sang to pay tribute to the players, coaches and team executives who died this past year. And the final moment of the two-hour show focused on Cam Heyward.
The Steelers team captain created a foundation to honor the memory of his father Craig “Ironhead” Heyward while helping underserved kids in the Pittsburgh community. Check out the video the NFL shared on how much work Cam Heyward does when he’s not on the football field.
In his speech, Heyward noted that his dad wore No. 34, the same as Walter Payton. Cam’s dad, who was a hard-nosed fullback for the Saints, died in 2006 of a brain tumor. Cam was in high school when his father passed away.
Heyward needed to pause several seconds to steady his emotions as he mentioned his dad. The speech definitely is worth another listen.
Cam Heyward told the crowd “I know I can carry this on. I can’t run as fast as Walter, and I won’t try, but I’ll make sure I do my part.”
Heyward is the first Steelers player to win the award since Jerome Bettis did so in 2001. Three other Steelers have earned the award. They are Franco Harris (1976), Joe Greene (1979) and Lynn Swann (1981).