{"id":667186,"date":"2026-01-10T22:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/667186\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T22:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:14:17","slug":"casual-fans-dont-really-understand-colts-lb-showers-cam-heyward-with-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/667186\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Casual Fans Don’t Really Understand’: Colts LB Showers Cam Heyward With Praise"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers only had one player make the Associated Press All-Pro team this year. Cam Heyward was named a second-team All-Pro for the<\/a> second time in his career. Doing that at 36 years old speaks to what a dominant player Heyward still is. That\u2019s not normal for any position, let alone a defensive lineman. Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin showered Heyward with praise, particularly for his performance against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand [what] a lot of casual fans don\u2019t really understand,\u201d Franklin said recently on the Club 520 Podcast.<\/a> \u201cIf you go back and watch that game, Cam Heyward, big d-tackle, he\u2019s been going at it for 16 years, the type of shit that he puts on tape, it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe changes the game from defensive tackle. It\u2019s hard to understand if you don\u2019t see the nuances or the different plays that he\u2019s affecting, Cam Heyward, he\u2019s a lead dog. He\u2019s an elite talent, Hall of Fame level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franklin is right that Heyward is a game changer. The effort he put in against the Ravens was<\/a> almost unbelievable. He dominated the line of scrimmage, finishing that game with seven total tackles and one quarterback hit. Heyward tied for the team lead in tackles that game, which isn\u2019t normal for a defensive lineman in his 15th season.<\/p>\n

Heyward finished 2025 with 3.5 sacks, nine tackles for loss, one forced fumble, and six pass deflections. While he wasn\u2019t as dominant as he was in 2024, he was still one of the Steelers\u2019 best players.<\/p>\n

His recent All-Pro selection only solidifies Heyward\u2019s case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Not only has he been named a second-team All-Pro twice, he\u2019s also been a first-team All-Pro four times. Plus, he\u2019s made seven Pro Bowls. Those accolades should get him real consideration for Canton.<\/p>\n

However, Heyward still wants to add to his resum\u00e9. While he\u2019s done a lot, he still hasn\u2019t won a Super Bowl. That\u2019s all he\u2019s chasing now. The Steelers are in the playoffs, so they have a chance at a championship. Hopefully, they can at least make some noise in the postseason,<\/a> but they have to get through the Houston Texans first.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers only had one player make the Associated Press All-Pro team this year. Cam Heyward was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[4034,97003,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,57,4995],"class_list":{"0":"post-667186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-cameron-heyward","9":"tag-club-520-podcast","10":"tag-colts","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-indianapolis","13":"tag-indianapolis-colts","14":"tag-indianapoliscolts","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","17":"tag-zaire-franklin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115873111350977804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}