Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season is over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we turn our attention to the offseason and everything that means. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: OLB Alex Highsmith
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The fourth-year outside linebacker just signed a four-year contract extension worth a reported $68 million, not only putting him in the top 10 at the position in average annual salary but also ensuring that he will remain in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future.
It’s hard to find two very good pass rushers at the same time. You might as well make sure you pay to hold on to them if you’re lucky enough to find them. That’s what the Steelers have done for the second time this century after locking up Alex Highsmith on a four-year, $68 million contract extension.
That keeps him in Pittsburgh through the 2027 season and playing alongside T.J. Watt for what will surely be at least as long. Watt himself signed a four-year extension in 2021, having already played out the first extension year last season, but remains under contract through 2025 and should sign another extension before the expiration of that deal.
It’s all good news for Highsmith, who is coming off a breakout season that was deserving of Pro Bowl recognition even if he didn’t actually receive it. He recorded 14.5 sacks during the year along with five forced fumbles, the latter tied for the most in the league last season.
He is as tireless a worker as the team currently employs and genuinely loves the game in all of is various aspects. He is both internally and externally driven to continue to excel, a source that won’t diminish because of his new financial windfall.
Getting the deal done before training camp begins eliminates the possibility of any contract distractions, including a theoretical “hold in”, as Watt did a couple years back while he was going through his own negotiations.
Perhaps the only real question as far as training camp and the preseason go is just how much is Highsmith going to participate? He’s still on the youngish side going into Year Four, but at the same time he is also an established veteran with a proven track record and a very lucrative contract. There’s not much the coaches need or want to see from him at this point.
Yet I suspect he’ll be on the field as much as the coaches will allow. He’s surely always working on some pass-rush move or some other aspect of his game. And let’s be honest: Yes, he got paid but not $68 million. He’s not getting guarantees beyond this season the way Watt did, at least I wouldn’t imagine he did.
He’ll have to continue to earn his contract, so it’s not like he can afford to coast. The Steelers already have the best edge rusher in the game. If at some point down the line Highsmith isn’t living up to his contract, they can afford to walk away from it.
