DK's Daily Shot of Steelers: Cam Heyward will earn it

[Music] cam Hayward got paid couldn't have been more obvious all along that he would now comes the fun part that I'm going to elaborate on why that is good morning to you good Wednesday morning I'm Deon kovachevich of DK Pittsburgh sports this is daily shot of Steelers it comes your way bright and early every weekday if you're into hockey or baseball I also cover two other teams in town in the Penguins and Pirates of course hope you'll check those out as well Cam and Omar Khan signed a contract yesterday afternoon on the south side it was the three-year extension that everyone expected and that cam wanted it was for 45 million there's all kinds of little tees that are crossed and eyes that get dotted in there but that's the amount that it'll end up paying him nice little bonus in there for the Steelers in that they actually create 9 million in immediate cap space so if Omar wants to you know do that thing that everybody wants him to do he's still free to do it and cam gets himself a term that's comparable to those of some of the better interior defensive linemen in the NFL he sets all kinds of standards for a player who's 35 defensive player I should say who's 35 and what's left now oh right Cam's next contrived exercise listen I can do this because I do this to his face so I can definitely do it on this show I can have fun at his expense and when he tries to get everybody all riled up about something something how he might be playing for Cleveland or whatever that nonsense was believe me he gets the friendly blowback from this direction because there can't be anything more absurd than the idea of Cam playing for another team so why would he suggest it because cam likes to constantly find fresh ways to motivate himself he's not above that he might not even believe what he's saying in the second that he is saying it but he'll seize upon it if it'll help him perform to his Peak so you ready for the next one the next one is this nobody thinks I'm worth it nobody thinks I'm worth that deal that was just signed they all think I'm too old they think I'm too banged up I'll never properly recover from the groin surgery that I had this offseason I'll never again look like that player in the season opener a couple years ago in Cincinnati when I was pretty much destroying the Bengals and Joe burrow all by myself they'll think I'm done they'll think Keanu Benton this kid is going to have to carry the line they'll think they have to keep three of us on the field instead of just two down linemen so it's going to be constantly me and Keanu and Larry Ogen Joby when it really only just needs to be two of us they're going to want to swap people in and out to make sure that I'm fresh or that I'm not getting hurt none of this might actually be true it doesn't matter if you think I'm exaggerating here I dare say you don't know this individual so what does this actually mean what will actually result from it well look let's keep this real he does need to be healthy he needs to be all the way healthy he doesn't need to be as explosive as he was you know 10 years ago he doesn't even necessarily need to be the first one to the backfield he needs to use his brains he needs to use his Brawn he needs to stop the run but yeah every once in a while he also needs to be that guy who's just flinging carcasses in all directions and they're carcasses by the way because of everything that he would have done before that flinging were to commence he does need to stay on the field and to do that I'm not saying this because I'm suggesting anything remotely negative because this is true of everyone when they get into their mid-30s and start working their way upward whether it's a Ben rothberger whether it's a Sydney Crosby you have to change the way you prepare you have to change the way you train it almost has to be a preventive form of preparing to play in football games you're exercising and stretching not necessarily harder than you've done before but in a different way he's got to do all of that he's got to stay on the field I'll say it again and look he doesn't have to be Superman within the context of the overall defense either you heard me saying on this show for weeks now all I want to see from that dline is the basics stop the run don't have the inside linebackers doing that don't have Minka Fitzpatrick doing that get off your blocks and create some pressure of your own mostly to make sure that offenses stay honest against TJ watt they'll get back there meaning TJ meaning Alex heith meaning Nick herbick they'll get back back there they'll put pressure on that'll allow Minka to freelance in the back field but only if the D line as a whole gets the job done cam needs to stay on the field have I mentioned that he needs to stay on the field and get his job done that's it if he does that for 3 years then this was one heck of a contract signed by both parties yesterday and believe you me nobody nobody anywhere wants that to happen more than 97 himself when we come back j1q this segment of daily shot is brought to you by our good friends at Mike's Beer they're located on Federal Street directly across from PNC Park Mike has more than 500 beers on tap including from more than 50 local breweries stop in and say hello tell Mike we sent you Mike's beer bar [Music] today's j1q comes from Derek who says Hey DK I can't help but to reflect on the past couple of years and how many times the offense has failed to possess the football especially in the first half of a lot of those games and wonder how much this minimized the playmaking ability of the defense defense had to be getting tired physically tired mentally being on the field too often with new offensive pieces in place this year I'm hopeful that if this offense can possess the ball more effectively and actually score some points early in games this defense and all of its Playmakers TJ watt cam Hayward Patrick Queen Alex iith make a Fitzpatrick can get back to creating consistent pressure turnovers big plays all around I'm excited about this possibility how about you well Derek the way you phrased this has me excited I'm not going to lie you really went all out with this and I don't think it was the way that I read it because in my head you were even more enthused than the way I was speaking it I I I couldn't agree more with you on all levels you know the first I'm not going to look it up but it was like the first two or three games of last season the defensive snap counts were obscene and you knew there was going to be a price to pay whether that was going to be in the form of fatigue or far worse injuries and sure enough the defense did start to crumble in both categories my belief to latch on to one slice of what you just shared there is that for this football team as a whole to be a real life Contender not just kind of floating around not just keeping their heads above water but a real life tender there's going to need to be a story line and a general story line that emerges about this defense that it's either like a bunch of savages ready to eat your quarterback alive or it's a group that's going to be really efficient at creating takeaways of all kinds not just Minka in the backfield with interceptions they're going to be able to knock the ball loose they're going to be able to pounce on that ball they're going to be able to return that ball they're going to be able to do things that make a defense truly special in fact if I carry this further I'm not sure there's a path for the Steelers to be a contender without having this kind of Defense so yeah obviously the less they're out there the fresher they're going to be the more Dynamic they're going to be but then that brings us back to talking about the other side of the ball again and whether or not the Steelers are going to be able to a put up points B sustain an offensive Pace in putting up points you know not that every Drive needs to be 18 plays 90 yards or whatever but you want to be able to do that you want to have it if not necessarily as a priority just as a possibility something that kind of scares the other sideline totally with you on this totally I appreciate the question I appreciate the energy you can tell we're getting a little bit closer to game day and I appreciate everybody listening to daily shot of Steelers we're going to do another one of these tomorrow as we get that much closer to Atlanta