The Pittsburgh Steelers believe that they have one of their best pass-rush tandems in their history on the roster right now. They have paid up accordingly. After making perennial Pro Bowl OLB T.J. Watt at the time the highest-paid defender in NFL history in 2021, they also ponied up yesterday to reward his partner, Alex Highsmith, signing him to a four-year, $68 million extension.
That’s not quite in the same territory financially, though it does place Highsmith just inside the top 10 at the position in new-money average at $17 million (tied with Chandler Jones and Shaquille Barrett). Nevertheless, it represents a substantial investment we haven’t seen the team make since James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley—a very different approach from the early era of free agency.
“Far cry from the 90s when they just let the edge rushers become free agents and go play for someone else and plug someone else in who would be just as good”, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio commented yesterday following the Highsmith news, on p3.7 The Fan with Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller.
“Long before the running backs started getting screwed by the system”, he added, “the Steelers were using free agency to draft, develop, and say farewell to one outside linebacker after another, so it is kind of funny that now they’re at the point where they’ve got Highsmith and Watt with significant contracts and certainty”.
It’s not exactly hard to research, although, granted, they did have some more long-term players like Greg Lloyd, Jason Gildon, and later Joey Porter. They had Jerrol Williams early on, who was actually himself replaced in free agency with Kevin Greene. We know the story of Chad Brown, the linebacker they seemed unable or unwilling to find a spot for before the Seattle Seahawks did. Later there was Carlos Emmons, among others.
But it should really be taken as a broader commentary rather than one specific to the edge rushing position. The Steelers did let more of their top talents go during the early period of free agency, with inside linebacker being another position routed by other teams.
The Steelers of the past decade and a half or so—one might say with Art Rooney II at the helm—have been more likely to successfully retain their top talents before they hit free agency, but then again, one could argue it also reflects a deficiency of drafting and planning not to have the next guy ready to step in to replace the starters as they hit free agency.
Well, that’s what Highsmith was. That’s what Watt was. Both were drafted during transitional periods, in the case of the former with Bud Dupree playing out a franchise tag year. He left in free agency the following offseason and Highsmith was ready to step in and take over.
It’s a success story all around, though certainly one that must continue. Now that he’s paid, he’ll have to earn that paycheck on the field. But perhaps in 2024 the Steelers should start planning, anyway. Right now their depth behind Watt and Highsmith at the position is unremarkable and lacking any likely future starter, barring perhaps rookie Nick Herbig.
