The Pittsburgh Steelers have just extended veteran DT Cam Heyward to a huge 4-year deal, $71 million. With the extension, Heyward is locked in to play his next five seasons in Pittsburgh as the highest paid defensive player over the age of 30 with a $75.1 million contract.

The news about Heyward's extension was confirmed by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler over at Twitter:

The nine-year vet has been one of the biggest anchors in the Steelers' defensive unit for the past decade. He's also proven to be quite the work horse for the Steelers as he's managed to only miss just 10 games in his nine year-career in Pittsburgh.

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The 31-year old has been named to the Pro Bowl in three straight years since 2017 and was also able to make it to the First-Team All-Pro selection both in 2017 and 2019 – by far his best season so far in the league.

In 2019, Heyward tallied a career-high of 83 combined tackles and averaged nine sacks in all of Pittsburgh's 16 games. Though the Steelers failed to make it again to the playoffs for the second straight season, they still managed to put up one of the league's best defense last year. Behind Heyward's sacks, Pittsburgh only allowed 304.1 yards per game last year which was the fifth-best in the entire NFL. They also had the sixth-best scoring defense, allowing just 18.9 points per game all season long.

With the extension of Heyward's contract, the Steelers' defense looks to be all set for the coming years. Hopefully, the other side of the field steps up as well to push Pittsburgh back to the playoff picture this season.