Going from a walk-on at Charlotte to a third-round pick in the NFL, and now a highly-paid pass rusher that is considered one of the better players in the league, it’s been quite a journey for Pittsburgh Steelers fourth-year outside linebacker Alex Highsmith.
Highsmith, entering his age 26 season, signed a four-year, $68 million extension Wednesday, locking him up long-term with the Steelers and giving Pittsburgh a formidable duo off the edge with him and star T.J. Watt for the foreseeable future.
Shortly after signing his extension with the Steelers, Highsmith made a statement to the franchise, saying that being a Steeler “means the world” to him, and that he’s looking forward to remaining a member of the historic franchise moving forward.
“I know I am a Pittsburgh Steeler through and through, and just to be part of this amazing organization for four more years means the world to me,” Highsmith said, according to a tweet from the Steelers. “This is where I want to be. This is where I want to play ball.”
Highsmith’s extension with the Steelers came as no surprise, considering he was coming off of a career-high 14.5 sacks in 2022, pairing with Watt to form one of the best pass rush duos in the league over the last few seasons. Together, the duo has 65.5 sacks in three seasons.
Concerns about Highsmith as a product of Watt are seemingly unfounded, especially after last season. When Watt was in the lineup last season, Highsmith was a game-wrecker, recording 10.5 of his 14.5 sacks on the season, including four of his NFL-leading five forced fumbles on the year. Having a true dominant player like Watt on the other side of the defense certainly helped Highsmith out, in terms of attention paid to the other side of the defense.
Without Watt in the lineup, Highsmith recorded just 4.0 sacks in the seven games Watt missed. That’s not a bad number overall and would have put him right around 10.0 sacks on the season if Watt missed the entire year. Based on his per-game production without Watt, Highsmith would have had a 10-plus sack season, 12-plus tackles for loss and quarterback hits, and 51 total pressures. Those are solid numbers overall.
Highsmith lacked some splash play at times without Watt and he could have played a bit better in certain matchups, like the losses to the Bills and Dolphins in which Highsmith combined for just two tackles in those games.
But there’s no denying how good Highsmith is at this point. He has a deep pass rush arsenal and is yet another example of the Steelers scouting and coaching staff hitting on a mid-round pick and keeping him around long-term. That’s huge for a team that primarily builds through the draft. How he attacks the offseason entering Year 4 coming off of a breakout season, which has him in line for a lucrative extension ahead of he 2023 season, will be very interesting to watch. Based on the way he’s progressed in his first two seasons as a starter opposite Watt, the sky is the limit for the Charlotte product.
