Steelers star Cam Heyward reveals he had surgery: 'Ready to get back'
Steelers star Cam Heyward, the reigning NFL Man of the Year, is recovering from surgery. And he shared that he “can’t wait to get back to myself.”
However, Heyward didn’t reveal why he had surgery, just that he did. The procedure probably involved his groin. Heyward shared the news via his Instagram story, showing a photo of himself lying in a hospital bed, Heyward wrote “surgery done. Ready to get back to feeling good.” He then posted the news on X, formerly Twitter.
Heyward: ‘just wanted to be back with my teammates’
On Twitter, Hayward wrote: “Done doing stuff on 1 leg that guys were doing on 2 legs lol. Can’t wait to get back to myself. … I pushed myself in rehab to play and it wasn’t like anything was torn, but putting your body through the riggers of playing NFL football the way I do, there was no way to catch back up. I just wanted to be back with my teammates, I’m happy I did comeback and I don’t regret it.”
Heyward did injure his groin early in the season. In fact, the injury occurred right before halftime of the Steelers season opening loss to the 49ers. The Steelers placed him on injured reserve as he underwent surgery. The defensive tackle was back at practice at the end of October and Pittsburgh activated him off IR on Nov. 1.
He missed six games because of his tender groin. But from the comments he made this week, he sounds like he never was healthy the rest of the season. After the Steelers lost in the first round of the playoffs, he told reporters that he first suffered the injury on the opening day of training camp last July.
Steelers may ask Heyward to take pay cut
After the Steelers final game, a loss to the Bills, Heyward acknowledged he was toying with the idea of retirement.
“It’s been a rough season,” he told The Athletic. “In my heart, I want to play, but you know, it’s been rough.”
Heyward turns 35 in May. He has one year remaining on his contract with the Steelers. Some team insiders believe he will need to take a pay cut in order to return. He is set to earn $16 million.