Sometimes, a team that is stale at a certain position just needs a breath of fresh air.
When it comes to the inside linebacker room, the Pittsburgh Steelers received a few breaths of fresh air this offseason, but none has seemingly been bigger or drawn more attention than the addition of Kwon Alexander.
Since signing a one-year deal on July 30, Alexander has hit the ground running and made an impact on teammates — in some instances literally.
One such teammate that has been drawn to Alexander’s play style and overall demeanor is star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Appearing on 93.7 The Fan’s PM Show with Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller Wednesday after practice, Fitzpatrick spoke highly of Alexander, giving him the highest compliment of being a “ball player.”
“Man, Kwon’s a ball player. He’s a guy that is just flying around making plays left and right,” Fitzpatrick said of the Steelers’ new linebacker, according to audio via 93.7 The Fan. “Your experience is gonna take you far. Football is football at the end of the day. Sometimes we make it more complicated and there might be little details that are different from team to team, but football is football and he’s a guy.
“I think the first day he was here, he was making plays, you know what I’m saying? And that just comes down to his talent as a football player.”
Talent has never been an issue with Alexander. Anywhere he’s gone, the former LSU star has produced. That includes stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saint and New York Jets. At every stop, Alexander has played relatively well, flying all over the field making plays and dishing out punishment.
While he’s in a new place in Pittsburgh with a new scheme in the 3-4 defense – one he’s never played in before — it’s still just football at the end of the day. Entering his ninth NFL season, the terminology might be much different, but the game of football is still the same for Alexander: find ball, hit ball.
That’s what he’s brought to the table for the Steelers. It started right away in that first practice on July 30, and it carried over in the preseason opener last Friday on the road against the Buccaneers with Alexander dishing out some big hits in the first half, providing a real physical presence once again to the middle of the Steelers defense — something the Black and Gold hasn’t had in a long time.
Alexander is a ballplayer’s ballplayer. He’s a throwback through and through, and that excites teammates like Fitzpatrick, who gets a good look at him on every rep playing behind him.
Playmaking and physicality are huge for the Steelers at the inside linebacker room, and Alexander provides that in abundance. That has Fitzpatrick excited, not to mention the fans and the media surrounding the Steelers.
