Alex Highsmith’s contract is signed, sealed, and delivered. Gone is any chance of a holdout or hold-in, an eleventh-hour deal, a camp storyline that takes away from the on-field focus. Highsmith netting a long-term deal came as little surprise. It was always going to get done before Week One against the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 10. The most interesting part is the timing of the deal, inked Wednesday, one week before the team reports to training camp.
It’s a similar story to Minkah Fitzpatrick, who signed his then-record deal in June 2022. A wholly undramatic negotiation in both cases. No public back and forth, no camp questions. The news broke, the deal was done, and that was that.
Even the contracts that carried over into camp last season didn’t wait until the final days. Wide receiver Diontae Johnson and kicker Chris Boswell signed contracts midway through camp. Johnson ended his hold-in and finished out the summer (Boswell didn’t do the same because let’s face it, a hold-in and normal camp for a kicker looks almost identical). Earlier this offseason, QB Mitch Trubisky inked a multi-year extension with the Steelers, solidifying the team’s quarterback depth chart.
It’s a contrast to how the Steelers operated under Kevin Colbert, whose contracts notoriously were strung along until the last second. Take T.J. Watt’s slightly exaggerated story of bursting into the Steelers’ front office, demanding a deal get done, and then making a beeline to the weight room after a lengthy hold-in, a deal not finalized until three days before Week One. Or Troy Polamalu famously signing his deal as he was boarding the plane ahead of the 2011 season opener in Baltimore.
To be fair, there were exceptions under Colbert. Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown got their deals done far in advance. But Roethlisberger is the quarterback exception — that’s one position where you don’t want any future uncertainty heading into an offseason — while Brown…it’s pretty clear he’s a guy who wanted to be paid sooner than later and getting him taken care of reduced the risk of any drama.
The shift in model goes back to something Omar Khan said earlier in the offseason. Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show, he offered his stance on how to handle contracts, the hat he wore from 2001 until he was hired as Steelers’ GM in May 2022.
“It keeps the negotiation short,” Khan told the show. “I’ve got too much going on to have long, drawn-out negotiations.”
There’s always layers to a contract and both sides want to feel good about the outcome. Some deals are easier than others, and I imagine contracts like Highsmith and Johnson’s are trickier, trying to sandwich between a group of players instead of a top-of-the-market deal like Watt’s, Fitzpatrick’s, or even Boswell’s. But Khan doesn’t spend much time beating around the bush. I have to assume he makes a fair offer that reflects the true value of the player rather than low balls or engages in standoffs until one side blinks. It doesn’t mean what Colbert did was unfair, and of course, Khan was the point man on all those deals, but Colbert was willing to let the other side sweat.
And perhaps Khan shouldn’t get all the credit. The NFL landscape is changing. Holdouts are rarely a thing anymore, teams now able to fine players who miss mandatory time like training camp. In Pittsburgh, holdouts were never a wise tool for players to use, running counter to the Steelers’ long-standing philosophy of not discussing deals with players who weren’t at camp. That happened to Hines Ward ahead of the 2005 Super Bowl season, Ward apologizing to Dan Rooney when he finally reported and calling it among his biggest football regrets.
Hold-ins have become more popular and give players, in Pittsburgh at least, some leverage. Teams don’t want players to miss time. A hold-in allows the player to be on the field, to be around the team, but not taking practice reps. It’s valuable time missed. And hold-ins are more visible, the player there but not working, leading to interviews with the player, his teammates, and coaches, and becoming a media storyline.
The point being, there’s now a consequence in Pittsburgh to a deal not getting done prior to camp and creates more urgency on the Steelers’ side. Khan recognizes that. If a deal is going to get gone, and it was with Fitzpatrick, Highsmith, and the others, you might as well get it done early. Everyone’s happy entering camp and the focus can solely be on football. For the players, for his teammates, for the coaching staff, for the front office.
None of this is to take away from the job Colbert did. There’s almost this fallacy that every praise of Khan is a direct and intentional critique of Colbert. It’s not. Not this article, anyway. It’s just a changing of the guard, an evolution of the game, a different guy with a different style. But it is a change and one worth noting for the Steelers’ next round of negotiations next season, potentially with TE Pat Freiermuth or anyone else who becomes part of the conversation.
