The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered double whammy during their 2023 NFL season opener against the San Francisco 49ers. Not only did they suffer a blowout 30-7 defeat, they also lost defensive linesman Cam Heyward to injury. Heyward failed to finish the Steelers' loss to the 49ers, and news later came out that the 34-year old will, more likely than not, miss multiple weeks.

There's now even more clarity regarding Heyward's status regarding how much time he'll be needing to recuperate from his injury. On Thursday morning, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that the Steelers defensive linesman will be missing around eight weeks (around two months) after undergoing surgery to repair his groin.

While that won't be promising news for the Steelers at all, at the very least, there's now a more definitive timeline in which the team should expect to not have Cam Heyward's services. If all goes according to plan and Heyward returns after eight weeks of recovery, the Steelers should be welcoming him back in Week 10 when they take on the Green Bay Packers at home.

Heyward is a huge piece for the Steelers defense, and his loss puts the team in a more precarious spot as the team tries to keep up in the AFC North standings. 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey ran riot against the Steelers defense without Heyward to anchor the defense. This puts Armon Watts in a pressure situation to try and approximate Heyward's contributions amid his looming absence. They will definitely have their work cut out for them in the next seven games.