When Ramon Foster retired a couple of months ago -- to join us here at DKPS -- Cam Heyward took over his duties as the Steelers' NFLPA rep.
Foster, who stewarded the Steelers through the signing of a new CBA just prior to his retirement, might have gotten off easy.
Heyward has been spending his time talking daily with teammates and other NFLPA members in regard to how the league will handle returning from the coronavirus shutdown. It's a pretty thankless, but highly important, job.
"I think we’re just dealing with the unknown," Heyward said Thursday on a Zoom call. "We’d like to be calculated and have all of the facts before we commit to something. With everything that keeps changing, we really can’t grasp everything that’s going on. I talk to my teammates almost every day about what’s going on and what to expect. The NFL and NFLPA have to come to an agreement. My thing is, I want all my guys to have all of the information first. I don’t want to be in a situation where we agree to something when a lot of guy are up in the air about something."
"Having asthma and being a bigger guy, but I understand the risk. I’m going to take all of the precautions," he said. "We’ll have to see in writing whether everybody else is taking the precautions, whether it be the staff or the bus drivers. It’s a lot of moving parts that have to go along with it. It can’t be something that’s rushed. I know the NFL and NFLPA have been working on this for a while. But there are so many things that have to be cleared before me and my family feel it’s acceptable for me to be playing."
"I think it’s harder because we have more players and more coaches," Heyward said. "I was reading, each team was traveling 37 people. We have 53 guys on our roster. Then you think about our practice squad. And then how would traveling take place? I don’t think you can keep 75 people from each team and adding a bunch of teams with it, I don’t know how that would look. It’s a great idea. I’m excited to see what the NBA does with it. I hope we cross every avenue to see what’s the safest, healthiest way to play football."
"It’s a slippery slope because so much of football is contact, especially in the trenches with guys going at each other on each and every play," Heyward admitted. "There have been talks about different helmets and I would love for that to be the end all, but there are a lot of moving parts. Football is going to have to change a lot. It’s not like COVID needs to bend to football. Football needs to bend to COVID. We’re going to have to really make some sacrifices and changes to our game to make sure this is even possible and make sure our players are healthy."
