Cameron Heyward reacts to Steelers paying T.J. Watt before training camp

Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman and team captain Cameron Heyward recently campaigned for the club to pay star pass-rusher T.J. Watt. 

Not long after Heyward offered his comments, the Steelers gave Watt a three-year, $123M deal that included $108M guaranteed. 

During the latest edition of the "Not Just Football with Cam Heyward" podcast, the 36-year-old reacted to the Steelers locking Watt down before the team's first practice of training camp. 

"I think it's definitely a weight off our shoulders that we don't have to continue to keep talking about the T.J. saga," Heyward acknowledged, as shared by Josh Carney of Steelers Depot. "And it's not even T.J. induced. It's just, media loves to talk about [Watt]. I love my dude, and we want to see him get his money, but how many more questions can anybody answer about it?"

Watt certainly generated his fair share of headlines regarding his unsettled situation, going back to when he suggested via a social-media post in April that he was giving a "peace out" message to Pittsburgh fans. He later skipped mandatory minicamp practices when he could've relegated himself to individual drills as part of a June "hold-in." 

Watt likely feels that his tactics helped him become the new highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. Whether or not that is the case, Heyward seems pleased that everybody involved can put conversations about Watt's status with the Steelers to bed for the foreseeable future. 

"I think I was under the belief that it would get done, that cooler heads would prevail," Heyward added. "I know everybody made a big deal about him throwing up the peace sign in the picture he posted, and everybody went into a whirlwind to, finally, now we get a picture of him just screaming at a camera and we're all good. So I think everybody's happy now."

Once the Steelers signed 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers to be their starting quarterback in June, it became a matter of when and not if Pittsburgh would give Watt millions of reasons to want to remain with what's been his only NFL home since he entered the league via the 2017 draft. 

A happy Watt will now look to help Rodgers end his career "the right way" after the future Hall of Famer endured two rough years as a member of the New York Jets.