Steelers' Cam Heyward 'Kind of Bummed' by Justin Fields's Exit As QB Sweepstakes Continue

The Pittsburgh Steelers are still without a plan for quarterback, but they wouldn't have been had they figured out a way to keep young QB Justin Fields, who opted to sign instead with the New York Jets in free agency.

As the team now decides between Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, or someone else entirely, longtime Pittsburgh defensive lineman Cam Heyward has weighed in on Fields's exit.

“First of all, Justin’s a class act," Heyward said during an episode of The Rich Eisen Show out Friday. "He’s a guy that works his tail off and wants to lead by example. I was kind of bummed it didn’t work out here. I thought we were going to have a chance to get him. But, I know that dude is going to dominate in New York. He's going to give that team a good chance."

Curiously enough, Rodgers just spent two seasons with Gang Green. Should he in fact come to Pittsburgh, both teams would have pulled off an intentional little switcharoo.

In the meantime, though, it would appear Heyward is also growing a bit weary of the uncertainty of free agency. Just last week, he said on an episode of his podcast Not Just Football that "either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t," in response to a question about what he would do to recruit A-Rodg to the team. "That’s simple, that’s the pitch. If you want me to recruit, that’s the recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers—if you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don’t, no skin off my back."

He then clarified those comments somewhat during Rich Eisen.

"Everybody gave me crap. They said I called him out. I don't think I really called him out," Heyward explained, alluding to Rodgers. "I just said I was not going to go on a darkness retreat to recruit him. But if he wants to be a Steeler, he can be a Steeler. That's the pitch."

“I don't know why everybody thought, 'Oh Cam's really going at him.' Some fans felt, 'Oh yeah, keep doing that,' and the other fans felt like, 'Oh man, you're really gonna scare him off.' I'm not scaring anybody off. I just wanna win games and play good football."

Fair enough. Hopefully we'll know more about the next Steelers quarterback here soon.