The Pittsburgh Steelers have been an outstanding defensive program but will be without one of their best players for a couple of months. Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo are reporting that defensive lineman Cam Heyward will be undergoing groin surgery today. He will be out for around eight weeks and could be without him for a majority of the season.
#Steelers perennial Pro Bowl DL Cam Heyward is having surgery to repair his groin today in Pittsburgh, per me and @MikeGarafolo. He’s expected to miss about eight weeks, but will be back midway through this season. He suffered his injury Sunday. pic.twitter.com/RQVLrfKA05
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 14, 2023
This is a devasting blow to the Steelers, as he has been a force throughout his career. Heyward is a six-time Pro Bowler and is a three-time All-Pro. He has 78.5 career sacks in his career and has been in a career resurgence for the last handful of years. It will be interesting to see how this Steelers’ defense plays without one of the best players on the defensive line for an extended period of time.
What can the Pittsburgh Steelers do while Heyward is out?
If the eight-week prognosis is the length of time this injury takes to heal, he will be returning for the Week 10 game at home against the Green Bay Packers. This defense is supposed to be the best part of this Pittsburgh team in a tough AFC North division, and losing Heyward will be tough.
They can slide rookie defensive tackle Keeanu Benton to replace Heyward in the starting lineup and still compete. Even with the injury to a star player, this defense should still play well with the collection of talent on this side of the football.
Despite the defense being on the field for a majority of the Week 1 game against the San Francisco 49ers, they were able to record three sacks and seven quarterback hits, so they can still apply a decent amount of pressure to the opposing quarterback.
As their bye week is in Week 6, they have a difficult schedule without Heyward in the lineup. They are vs. Cleveland, at Las Vegas, at Houston, vs. Baltimore, bye week, at Los Angeles Rams, vs. Jacksonville, and vs. Tennessee.
Uw Football Pro Day 2 March 23 2023
This Pittsburgh team still has incredible defensive talent, with rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr., linebacker TJ Watt, and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, to name a few of their top-tier talent. With Mike Tomlin calling plays and leading this team, at worst, they should be able to keep their head above water.
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