Cameron Heyward has confirmed he won’t retire despite the speculations surrounding him for the majority of the 2023-24 season he missed due to a groin injury and its surgery. He is set to return with his team Pittsburgh Steelers for the next season.
Cameron Heyward Makes It Clear: ‘I’m Not Retiring’ https://t.co/nb7Cn7DIN9 #Steelers #Pittsburgh #NFL pic.twitter.com/nBj7OfdOfJ
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) January 18, 2024
In his podcast “Not Just Football”, Cameron Heyward announced to his viewers that he isn’t retiring. He expressed his love for the game as he continued to say “I love football. I want to play football. I’m not retiring. I hate to be blunt about it, but I’m not retiring.”
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Cameron Heyward wants to play beyond the 2024 season
Cameron Heyward tore his groin in the training camp prior to the 2023 season. He tore the muscle completely against the San Francisco 49ers in Week One and was expected to be out for 12 weeks. However, he was back in practice by the 7th week and made his return against the Tennessee Titans in Week Nine.
Heyward played 12 games in the whole 2023-24 campaign, 11 of them were regular season matches and 1 lone playoff match against the Buffalo Bills, which resulted in a heavy 31-17 loss for the Steelers.
#nfl #HereWeGo Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward announces he won't retire after a tough 2023 season. Heyward played with a groin injury and finished with 11 regular-season games and a playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills. https://t.co/zyJo0DsvqN
— NFL Digest (@nflpress_digest) January 19, 2024
The Steelers star however lamented at the frustration of having an injury as he said “I just played an entire season on one freakin’ leg where I could barely run for half the season.”
Heyward turns 35 by the start of the new season but he is determined to play for more than just this season. He wants his body to get healthy so he can continue to keep playing at the top level. He commented, “I don’t plan on just playing one more season and I’ll say that right here, but I gotta let my body heal and I gotta let my body get back to feeling good again.”
Cameron Heyward wants to stick around with Steelers in 2024 — and, if healthy, maybe even beyond https://t.co/2VARn6EGlh
— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) January 18, 2024
Heyward also expressed his concerns as he highlighted the importance of health when he said “I’m not going through this season doing this stuff again. It’s not fair to my body, it’s not fair to my family for me to do what I did this last year and try to do it for multiple seasons.”
Cameron Heyward wants to win the Super Bowl and with an unfortunate early exit this season, he can look to rest some more in the off-season to get healthy, as he hopes to win his first Super Bowl with the Steelers in the upcoming season.
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