Craig Heyward
American football player (1966-2006)
Craig William Heyward (September 26, 1966 – May 27, 2006), nicknamed "Ironhead", was an American professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers. He then played for the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, St. Louis Rams, and Indianapolis Colts in an 11-year NFL career.
Professional career
He was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the first round (24th pick overall) of the 1988 NFL draft out of the University of Pittsburgh. Heyward's 3,086 career rushing yards rank third all-time at Pitt in only three seasons. He declared himself eligible for the 1988 draft after his junior year. In 1987 at Pittsburgh, Heyward rushed for 1,791 yards to earn consensus All-American honors and finish fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Heyward was widely feared by opposing defenses because he was often as big, and sometimes bigger, than the defenders who had to stop him, and had agility. One of the NFL's "big man" running backs in the vein of Earl Campbell, Heyward, at 5' 11" and reportedly weighing 330 pounds, was a runner who was also a blocker and good receiver.
The public source identifies “Craig Heyward” as american football player (1966-2006). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Craig, Heyward and American.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5181037. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1966, 2006, 1988 and 1987.
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This entry incorporates text from “Craig Heyward” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.