Steelers' Cam Heyward Details Plan for Walter Payton Winnings

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward earned one of the highest honors an NFL player can this week, when he was named the 2023 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year, an award that honors the charitable impact NFL players make in their communities. 

Heyward doesn't have a final plan for how he wants to spend the $250,000 that comes with the award but the Steelers captain already has ideas and is looking to pour that money back into educational initiatives around the Pittsburgh area. 

“I think there’s a couple different areas I want to touch. I think I want to continue to keep working with communities, organizations I’ve been working with," Heyward said. "But I think there’s some schools that you look at and you say ‘Man, I really wish I could help,’ and this is a great opportunity to do that.”

Heyward knows that he can't call it quits on giving back to his hometown of Pittsburgh even after being named Man of the Year. He's made a commitment to this city and the wider region and views this award as a springboard to even greater things in the future. And he's drawing on inspiration from his parents, and his father - the late, great Craig "Ironhead" Heyward - to do that.

“My dad was always a big fan of Walter Payton so he would have had a good time last night," Heyward said. "I think he would be excited about the award but know that we have more work to do and he’d give me a good pat on he back but he wouldn’t let me rest on it.”