Cam Heyward fears Hard Knocks could negatively impact Steelers locker room

That’s just the way it is. While they were never eligible to be on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” show during the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be a part of it through the end of the season. With the New York Giants being part of the NFL free agency and NFL draft portion of the show, and the Chicago Bears doing the regular training camp show, the entire AFC North will be a part of it later in the season.

“Hard Knocks” will document the race for the AFC North division in the final weeks of the season between the Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns. Last year, three of the four teams in the division made the AFC playoffs, with the lone exception being the Bengals, who went 8-9 after losing Joe Burrow for the season. It should be a lot of fun, but not for everyone…

Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward offered some thoughts on his podcast, “Not Just Football.”

“I hated it, I don’t want to be in it,” Heyward said. “The locker room is the locker room, and I don’t want it to get ruined. There’s so many inside jokes. There’s so many people, like you think everybody’s an idiot if you hear everything. But it comes from a loving place and a caring place. We all want to be better and we joke around a lot. We tease and we tease each other, but it doesn’t always happen that way. And so that’s the only thing that really worries me.”

Heyward may have gotten a laugh at first with his comment about the Steelers being part of this year’s season version of “Hard Knocks,” but I think there’s more to it than he’s letting on. Despite being a team leader and one of the longest-tenured members of the Steelers, the cameras are going to pick up on a lot of things that are going to reveal what a dysfunctional franchise this is.

Here is the latest episode of “Not Just Football” with Heyward’s thoughts on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

If there was a way to see just how wild the Steelers have become, HBO would provide it.

Yes, the very concept of having cameras in the locker room is intrusive, especially during a playoff race. But it can be collectively negotiated. Plus, it’s not a new phenomenon in the NFL world. Apparently every franchise has been featured on “Hard Knocks” at some point in the last two decades. Not the Steelers, but I think it’s a bigger problem for them than it is for their other rivals…

The Bengals, Browns and Ravens have all been through the program before. Yes, it may have been under different coaching regimes, but many people, from owners to the humblest, have seen what HBO has done before in their facilities and what they want to do next. Not the Steelers, the exception. Unfortunately, I think what HBO will film will be a bad look for this AFC franchise.

Heyward talked about how the locker room is a special place and how there are so many very important inside jokes that don’t need to be divulged. That’s fine. We don’t need to be privy to the joke. However, his concerns about some of his teammates being perceived as jerks are a very real concern. The Steelers always find ways to win games, but their locker room could be exposed as dysfunctional during this series.

This is a direct reflection of Mike Tomlin. We’ve heard about so many strange things going on behind closed doors in Pittsburgh for years. Now there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The equivalent of Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell’s nonsense of old can’t be swept under the rug or covered up by a series of well-crafted 10-second Tomlin bits.

Baltimore doesn’t have to worry about that. Honestly, I don’t think the Bengals do either. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I trust the Browns to be a little quieter behind the scenes than Pittsburgh. To me, that’s why HBO targeted the AFC North as a whole. Yes, it’s going to be a great race, but we all want to see the drama happen in Pittsburgh. It’s Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

No one goes in and no one comes out… until now! Look what we stumbled upon!