Alex Highsmith did laps around his 2022 goals, coming into the year with hope of registering a double-digit sack season. He ended the season with 14.5 of them, nearly a top-five figure in the NFL, and it earned him a big payday. He signed a four-year extension last week and on Monday morning, held a press conference to discuss the deal. But his focus was on getting even better, not resting on his laurels.
“More sacks, more caused fumbles, just more havoc in general,” Highsmith said via the team’s YouTube channel of his 2023 goals. “Just playing better details. Going back and watching my film, there’s so many little things that I could have done better. Watching different rushes and I could have finished so many more sacks last year that I had.”
Highsmith was the Steelers’ main source of pass rush in 2022, especially as T.J. Watt missed the first half of the year with a partially torn pectoral suffered in their Week One win over Cincinnati. Highsmith picked up three sacks in the opener and had 1.5 two weeks later against Cleveland. His production stayed steady throughout, ending the year with a 2.5 sacks performance in the finale over the Browns, and his 14.5 sacks ranked sixth in the NFL. He also found ways to separate quarterback from ball with five forced fumbles, tied for the league lead.
As we wrote last week, Highsmith is a feel-good story. As he touched on during the presser, the total unknown and true zero-star recruit out of high school walked onto Charlotte, earned a scholarship, busted out his final season, got drafted, played well, and got paid. Now, he’s set himself and his family up for the rest of his life.
If Highsmith can even match last year’s numbers, he’ll join Watt as the only two Steelers to have 14.5-plus sacks in back-to-back seasons. It may be tougher this season with left tackles not taking him lightly and countering him late in 2022, defending his inside spin move, but Highsmith sounds ready to embrace the challenge. He outlined how to turn those pressures into even more sacks.
“There’d be times I would beat guys and I wouldn’t bend in the corner well enough, and the quarterback would step up,” he said. “So just continue to work on the end of the rush.”
The Steelers are looking to get their pass rush back on track after seeing their 50-plus sack season streak end, wrapping up 2022 with only 40 of them. With a healthy Watt, Highsmith, Cam Heyward, and the rest of the team’s front seven, odds are good they’ll return to form and once again be the anchor of the team.
