- The entire AFC North will be featured on the in-season ‘Hard Knocks’ in 2024
- The Giants are currently being featured on an offseason version
The Pittsburgh Steelers will be on ‘Hard Knocks’ for the first time in 2024 – but one of their star players isn’t happy about it.
In a historic move, the famous behind-the-scenes NFL show will focus on the entire AFC North division during this season, and defensive lineman Cam Heyward is not looking forward to participating.
‘I hated it,’ he said on his Not Just Football podcast, when asked for his reaction to hearing the Steelers would be on the show. ‘I don’t want to be on this.’
He continued, ‘The locker room is the locker room, and I just don’t want that getting messed up. There’s so many inside jokes, so many people.
‘There’s so many people, like, you would assume everybody’s a jerk if you heard everything. But it comes from a loving place, and it comes from a caring place.’
Since debuting in 2001, the NFL Films and HBO documentary show has offered fans unrivaled TV access into teams’ practices, offseason activities and personnel decisions.
However, the league has at times found it difficult to get volunteers in recent years.
Previously, teams were allowed to turn down ‘Hard Knocks’ if they had made the playoffs in the last two seasons, or done the show in the last 10 years.
That period has been reduced to eight years under new rules approved by owners, according to the Sports Business Journal, though teams with first-year head coaches are also allowed to turn the show down.
The show strictly documented a team’s summer training camp and preseason until 2021, when the Colts were featured in an in-season version – which will feature the Steelers, Bengals, Ravens and Browns this year.
The show also added an offseason version this year, which debuted recently featuring the Giants and their NFL Draft process.
The traditional training camp-focused version of the show will focus on the Bears this summer.