From 99-0, TeamFB7 is looking back on the greatest players in NFL history to don each jersey number. No ties allowed, tough decisions will be made — today we move on to No. 97 and Cameron Heyward.
A number associated with some of the greatest interior defensive linemen in NFL history, No. 97 provided another close debate as to who wore it best — to play on tabloid parlance if we may.
San Francisco 49ers great and Hall of Fame defensive tackle Bryant Young had a very strong case, which we’ll break down momentarily, but ultimately the edge goes to a potential future Hall-of-Famer in Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward.
The Steelers as a team have lost some of the aura they carried through much of the 2000s when they were adding Lombardi Trophies to the storied franchise’s incredible history.
Nonetheless, Heyward would have fit on any of the legendary Steelers teams and carries on the legacy of the franchise’s great defensive tackles that came before him.
From pre-Super Bowl era Hall-of-Famer Ernie Stautner (nine Pro Bowl selections from 1950-63) to 1970s defensive anchor and Hall-of-Famer “Mean” Joe Greene (10 Pro Bowls, four Super Bowl titles, two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year) to elite nose tackle Casey Hampton (five Pro Bowls, part of the Steelers’ two Super Bowl titles this century), Pittsburgh’s enduring ethos of stifling defensive play has usually had a leading catalyst in the middle of the line.
While Heyward’s Steelers squads have fallen short of the postseason standard of the franchise’s greatest teams, making only one conference championship game and no Super Bowls during his 15-year career so far, we can’t really hold that against him.
Heyward has been voted a team captain for 11 straight years while seemingly still playing like he’s in his prime heading into his age-37 season.
Selected by Pittsburgh at the end of the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft out of Ohio State, and initially operating as a 3-4 defensive end, it took him three years to become a starter and until his seventh season in the league to earn Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors.
But starting with that 2017 season, Heyward has piled up seven Pro Bowl nods with four first-team and two second-team All-Pro honors in nine seasons while working primarily on the interior of the defensive line. For his career, he’s totaled 796 tackles, 142 tackles for loss, 92 sacks and 64 pass deflections — one of his signature specialties.
Per StatMuse.com, he ranks seventh all-time among defensive linemen in pass breakups with former Vikings star Kevin Williams holding the top spot at 73. Considering Heyward had 17 over the last two seasons alone, he might be coming for that mark before long.
Again, if he’s lost a step at his age, it’s not obvious. Last season at 36 years old, Heyward had 78 total tackles (third-most of his career), 9 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 6 pass deflections and a forced fumble while playing all 17 games for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
PFF graded him No. 1 out of 134 qualifying NFL interior defensive linemen last season with a 90.4 season grade, while crediting him with 50 total pressures (ninth-best at the position).
Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter recently said this of Heyward on his “Fully Loaded Podcast”: “He’s a dinosaur. He’s a throw-back. Dude could play in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s. … He’s still playing at an All-Pro level. … He’s vitally important in the community, he’s vitally important in the locker room, he’s vitally important in the front office, he’s vitally important as far as the Steelers and their legacy. He’s not Mean Joe Greene, but he is the next best thing to Mean Joe Greene and playing for the Steelers.”
That certainly sums it up.
Signed through the 2027 season, Heyward is indeed not done yet.
But when that time comes, he is considered a likely candidate for Canton and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Per Pro Football Reference, the average Hall of Fame defensive tackle has 92 sacks — exactly where Heyward stands now, ranking 11th all-time at the position and needing 8 more to crack the top 5.
Ultimately, in weighing Heyward vs. Young, the only thing holding the Steelers great back by comparison was the postseason accolades.
Young was a key contributor to the 49ers’ Super Bowl XXIX championship team (after the 1995 season), and that was no doubt a big part of what got him into the Hall of Fame.
He made four Pro Bowls, earned one first-team and three second-team All-Pro honors and finished fourth in NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting in 1996. He finished his 14-year career — all with San Francisco — with 627 total tackles, 93 tackles for loss, 89.5 sacks, 11 forced fumbles and 20 pass deflections.
Young earned his place in NFL history, certainly, but Heyward earns the spotlight here as the greatest player to wear the No. 97.
Other honorable mentions include fellow defensive tackles La’Roi Glover (Raiders, Saints, Cowboys and Rams) and Geno Atkins (Bengals), defensive end Simeon Rice (Cardinals, Buccaneers, Broncos and Colts) and outside linebacker Cornelius Bennett (Bills, Falcons and Colts). *Rice also wore numbers 79 and 78 for a season each.
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