Defensive Tackle · Pittsburgh Steelers

Cameron Heyward

No. 97 · 16th season

The oldest defensive tackle in the league played more than all of them

There is a number that stops you. In 2025, Cameron Heyward was 36 years old — the oldest defensive tackle in the NFL — and he was on the field more than any other player at his position. Not a handful more. More, full stop.

Heyward has spent his career in Pittsburgh, the kind of player a city builds its defensive identity around. By this point, most players his age are managing their minutes, taking the veteran's deal: show up, mentor, contribute what you can. Heyward apparently missed that memo.

The Steelers lined him up, and he kept going. Snap after snap, game after game, all season long.

There is something almost stubborn about it — the refusal to let the calendar decide what you're capable of. Whatever the league thinks a 36-year-old defensive tackle looks like, Heyward was busy being the opposite.

At some point you stop asking how much longer he can do this and just watch.

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