Together, they are considered one of the best — if not the best — pass-rushing tandems in the NFL. Now, with long-term contracts in hand for both, the duo of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith aims to continue wreaking havoc on the rest of the league and fellow quarterbacks for years to come, especially during the 2023 season.
Speaking to reporters Monday after officially signing his four-year, $68 million extension with the Steelers that made him one of the 10 highest-paid edge defenders in the NFL, Highsmith spoke glowingly of the friendship and working relationship with Watt that has grown the last three seasons together. He added that he’s looking forward to the havoc that the duo is going to cause in 2023.
“Yes, it’s been awesome playing with him my first three years in the league and coming in, getting to be teammates with him and Bud [Dupree] was just so big for me. I feel like coming in, those two were some of the best at their position when I came in and just being able to learn from them and….just continue to be like a sponge is what I wanted to be coming into my rookie year and just suck up information from them,” Highsmith said, according to video via the Steelers’ official YouTube page. “And now the past couple years, being able to play alongside T.J., I feel like we’ve continued to get better together and continue to develop more cohesiveness and so I just feel like just being with him has just been awesome because I continue to learn from him. I continue to pick his brain about stuff, about rushing the passer and stuff like that. And so, it’s been cool really developing chemistry with him. I look forward to the havoc that we’re gonna cause this year.”
Havoc is what the duo has caused consistently for opposing offenses when healthy and on the field together.
Combined, the two have recorded 65.5 sacks in three seasons from 2020, when Highsmith was drafted, until now. Watt had a historic year in 2021, recording 22.5 sacks to tie the NFL single-season sacks record with Michael Strahan, while Highsmith put up 6.0 sacks opposite him and really developed into a key run defender that season.
Last season, Watt missed seven games, putting much of the havoc-wreaking onus on Highsmith. He put up a career-high 14.5 sacks, which helped him earn the long-term contract extension with the Steelers. However, playing without Watt across from him, 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 had missed the entire year.
The lack of production and splash plays was a bit noticeable from Highsmith without Watt on the other side. That said, 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.
When Watt was in the lineup last season though, Highsmith was a game-wrecker, recording 10.5 of his 14.5 sacks on the season and four of his NFL-leading five forced fumbles. Having a true dominant player like Watt on the field certainly helped Highsmith in terms of attention paid to the other side of the defense.
The two play very well together and really give offenses headaches. It also helps that having a star like Cameron Heyward on the defensive line draws attention from offenses as well.
Assuming good health and another year of development for the duo from a pass-rushing perspective, there is no reason that the pair of Steelers standouts don’t cause a whole lot of havoc in 2023.
