Pittsburgh Steelers star defensive lineman Cam Heyward underwent surgery, he posted to his Instagram story in February. It was reported that the procedure was related to his groin and core muscle surgery and was a clean-up procedure that he needed.
Throughout the season, the groin injury plagued him, even after returning. Heyward has discussed the injury he suffered at the 49ers at length. First, he stated that he had micro tears dating back to training camp, and they tried to rest it. But when he played against the 49ers, he tore the muscle off the bone, requiring surgery. At some point, while trying to compensate for it, he injured his other groin, too. Heyward should have missed 12 weeks after his surgery, but powered back far quicker than that.
Heyward said that in addition to surgery during the season and the new groin injury, he had a knee issue that kept him from practicing fully throughout almost the entire season after his return.
“I had my groin, then overcompensating with my other groin,” he said. “There was stuff on top of that, like my knee. It was a grind just to get ready for each game. It wasn’t by choice that I didn’t want to practice. It was ‘get me to the game.’ I don’t like that doing that. I don’t like playing football that way. I don’t ever want to cheat the game. I don’t ever want to think I’m not going to be 100%. But that was the cards I was dealt this year. It was a lot.”
But now, Heyward says that he is feeling much better at this stage in the offseason.
“Offseason is going pretty good, got my training going good after my surgery,” Heyward said on Not Just Football. “The workouts are going great, working my a-- off to make sure I’m in good shape. It’s fun to do everything that I’m accustomed to doing. Through the season I was just like, hey man, let’s see if we can get to the playoffs because it’s looking a little rough right now.”
Heyward won the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award last week in Las Vegas. He joined Franco Harris (1976), Joe Greene (1979), Lynn Swann (1981) and Jerome Bettis (2001) as the only Steelers players to receive the prestigious honor. The honor is bestowed annually to a player who not only excels on the field, but also with their service in their community.
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