Cam Heyward reveals secret to football power

Cam Heyward has been tossing offensive linemen around for so long that Pittsburgh Steelers fans might assume his secret involves superhuman strength. According to the All-Pro, the formula is less mysterious and much more old-school.

“Technique, eyes, awareness. I think, also, just like staying lower,” Heyward told Jon Gruden on “Not Just Football” when asked his secret. “I don’t think we really preach that enough in our game anymore about staying low in your position. Everybody thinks you can just get high and swim a guy, but if you have good technique and you control blockers, you can kick a whole lot of a**.”

There are a lot of layers to that answer, but staying low is the part young defensive linemen should underline three times. Heyward has never relied on one flashy move. Instead, he wins with leverage, hand placement and the ability to feel where a block is going before the blocker even goes there.

The final line is Cam being Cam, but the career production backs up his colorful coaching point. Heyward has 796 combined tackles, 92 sacks, 64 passes defensed and nine forced fumbles across 228 regular-season games. Those totals reflect a defensive tackle who’s controlled guards, centers and double-teams for more than a decade.

Heyward started all 17 games last season and finished with 78 tackles, 3.5 sacks, six passes defensed and a forced fumble. The sack number dipped from his eight in 2024, yet 78 tackles from an interior lineman at age 36 during the season is ridiculous work.

Pittsburgh’s younger defensive linemen don’t need to search far for the lesson. Heyward is 37, coming off another 17-start season and happy to remind everyone that low man usually wins.

This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Cam Heyward reveals secret to football power