Steelers' Cam Heyward On Rookie Troy Fautanu's Shocking Luxury Flight: 'We Don't Do That Here'

When the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Troy Fautanu with their first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, longtime team leader Cam Heyward was at the podium to read his name. The first round is usually exclusively reserved for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. However, Heyward was named the 2023 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year by the league and was given the honor of announcing his team's first pick. 

While at the draft festivities, Heyward filmed an episode of his podcast, Not Just Football, and invited several of the rookies to talk about how it feels to be a Steelers player. That included Fautanu, Zach Frazier, Payton Wilson, and Roman Wilson. Heyward shared with the audience that he was actually a bit nervous; the event in Detroit was packed, and it felt like the biggest crowd he'd ever seen. But the real shock came when the activities wound down, and he boarded his flight from Detroit back to Pittsburgh and spied Fautanu.  

"I was coming back from Detroit, and Troy Fautanu was coming in through a connecting flight in Detroit," recalled Heyward. "We were on the same flight. He was in first class, and I was in first class. Now, when I got drafted, I was not in first class, so things have changed for the better. You watch these other guys. They get on private jets. That's not happening in Pittsburgh. We don't do that here."

Fautanu watched the draft with his closest friends and family in Las Vegas at a private party rather than attending the Detroit event with all the other hopeful players. After he got the call from General Manager Omar Khan that he was being selected by the Steelers, he immediately hopped on a red-eye flight to get to Pittsburgh right away. That flight connected in Detroit and happened to be the one Heyward was on. 

Heyward refers to how notoriously cheap the Steelers organization has always been. The Rooney Family built a successful franchise from absolutely nothing with the hiring of Chuck Noll in 1969. 

The accusations of squandering money are frequent. The team was too cheap to fire former Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada despite the fact that he was running the offense into the ground. The facility grades are terrible, partly because the Steelers organization covets the revenue generated from sharing with the University of Pittsburgh. All of this has led to ownership getting low marks from players.  

Steelers Get A Massive Steal On Quarterback Room, But Only For One Season

Wilson is not doing anything altruistic here. He is being paid handsomely by the Denver Broncos, who just wanted him to go away. Fields is in the fourth year of his rookie contract, and the Steelers have already declined the fifth-year option. This has given fans cause for concern. Is this just a bandaid on our quarterback problem? What will happen in 2025? How will we afford either of these guys? 

According to longtime Steelers insider Gerry Dulac from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the team knows they will have to pay up at some point. Dulac said the Steelers' intention is, and always has been, to re-sign both Wilson and Fields for 2025. He said the team will wait to sign Wilson until after this season. He is truly going to have a "prove it" season. But he anticipates signing Fields sooner, perhaps even before the season starts.