Steelers' Cam Heyward infuriated with NFL's approach to Damontae Kazee and his mental health

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontae Kazee was suspended for the remainder of the regular season after what the league called an illegal hit during the team's Week 15 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Kazee's punishment not only hurt him and his wallet, it hurt a team that was already struggling in their secondary. At the time, it felt like there was little chance the Steelers could make the playoffs, but if they did, they would get Kazee back. While the team and the fans were frustrated about losing such a critical player for something that felt exaggerated, one teammate expressed different concerns. 

Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward also co-hosts a podcast called Not Just Football With Cam Heyward. On the show, he has expressed multiple times that he believes the league talks out of both sides of their mouth quite a bit, especially when it comes to the notion of "player safety." 

The Steelers' Week 18 game against the Baltimore Ravens was announced as a TBD game with the date and time withheld until the week before. The league often does this so they can capitalize upon key matchups to boost revenue. It was announced that the game would be played on Saturday in the 4 PM ET slot when the weather was predicted to be very cold with sleet, snow, and rain in the forecast. The forecast for that Sunday, the day after? Near 50 degrees and sunny. Heyward said it is hard to buy the "player safety" shtick when it is a well-known fact that more injuries occur when the field conditions are sloppy. Heyward is once again shining the spotlight on the league's failure to concern itself with player safety. 

Steelers' Cameron Heyward Feels The League Let Damontae Kazee Down

A lot of fans minimize the impact of a suspension on the player as a human, instead worrying solely about winning games. But football players are people too and not only was Kazee fined and suspended from his job (which is one that he physically puts himself in danger to play), but he also found his character under attack. 

The league did not suspend Kazee just for his "illegal hit" during the Colts game, they launched an attack on his character and branded him a "dirty player" by calling him a repeat offender. Many of the hits that the league cited as the reason for the suspension were not even called during the game. Heyward said that a big part of what concerns him with suspensions like this, is that no one from the organization is allowed to contact the player. 

"The one thing I hate about how we suspend players in this league, we literally say the coaches and nobody from the organization can communicate with that player. It's shocking because we're supposed to be a team that continues to worry about mental health, player health. Years ago, a guy like Martavis Bryant was suspended the whole year and nobody could communicate with him. We get into these things where we are trying to punish the player, but what happened to taking care of the player? What happened to [making] sure he's on good footing? Making sure he stayed around the team? I think that gets lost in all this suspension c**p. I think we are running from solutions and creating more problems," says an outraged Heyward.

He goes on to say that he won't even comment on the "dumb a** rule" that got Kazee suspended in the first place. In most sports, the teammates become like family to each other. It doesn't matter if a player has people on the outside to talk to or not, because those people may empathize, but can't understand what it is like to actually be on a team. 

Martavis Bryant, who Heyward mentioned, was suspended in 2018. He was drafted by the Steelers in the fourth round in 2014. He showed a great deal of talent as a deep threat. He was suspended for the first time in 2015 for four games for violating the league's substance abuse policy. He was suspended again in 2016 for the entire season for once again violating the league's rules on marijuana. 

Bryant wasn't just struggling with drug use, he was also very vocal about his frustrations of being second to Antonio Brown. He took to social media to complain and skipped team meetings. He vocalized his desire to be traded and his wish was granted. He went to the then-Oakland Raiders in 2018. He played in only eight games before the league issued an indefinite suspension. 

He went on to play in the Canadian Football League and the XFL. Over the years, numerous players have spoken up stating that Bryant should be reinstated. In 2023, the league did just that, however, despite some teams expressing interest in the 32-year-old, he has not yet been signed by any NFL team.   

Heyward brings up a valid point that banning a player from the facility or allowing the men who supervise him to even check on him is beyond the pale. The point of the punishment should be to give teams a chance to work on remediating a player. In the case of Kazee, shouldn't the staff be working with him on legal tackling rather than shunning him? Shouldn't someone who has a relationship with Kazee be checking on him to ensure that he is ok mentally and emotionally?

As for what the team can do to help him out, Heyward said they need to go into Buffalo and help Kazee earn some extra money with a win.