The Pittsburgh Steelers have a compelling case to make for having the best pass-rush tandem in the league. Having T.J. Watt on one side of the defense helps their case quite a bit, but it’s the presence of Alex Highsmith as the bookmark end that really seals the deal. He’s a Robin on the Steelers, but could be the Batman on many other teams.
He had his first multi-sack game of the season last time out against the Tennessee Titans, and he earned praise recently from another one of the great pass rushers of the game today for it. The Las Vegas Raiders’ Maxx Crosby named him his “number one rushman of the week” recently on his The Rush podcast—nevermind the fact that they share agents.
“Dude is a beast. He’s got the cross chop, he’s got a spin move, he’s got literally every move you can imagine”, he said. “This dude Alex Highsmith is getting better and better every single year, and you see what he’s doing. I think last year he had 13.5, this year he’s on his way to double digits again. He had four tackles, two sacks, and 11 pressures in that Thursday night game versus the Titans”.
It was actually 14.5 that he had a year ago, but nevermind that. The point is he had a lot of sacks. He also had a league-leading five forced fumbles, and yet he was only named an alternate for the Pro Bowl. Crosby believes that will change.
“I definitely see him in Pro Bowls, if not this year, for many years to come. He’s only getting better”, he said of Highsmith. He also praised the rest of the Steelers’ rushers, from Cameron Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi to Nick Herbig and Markus Golden, and of course T.J. Watt. “The fact that he’s standing out in a group like that is just a big credit to him”.
Although his two-sack game against the Titans still only has him at 4.5 for the season, that figure is not indicative of how well he has been performing as a rusher. He did have a third sack in that game that was negated by penalty as well, I might add. He had five quarterback hits on top of that, with 13 on the season, on pace to better his number in that category from last year.
Drafted in the third round out of Charlotte in 2020, Highsmith has had a steady climb from his rookie season up to now. He was rewarded during the offseason by the Steelers, who signed him to a four-year, $68 million contract extension, promising to keep himself and Watt together for some time.
Highsmith does have 3.5 sacks over the course of his last four games, so the numbers are trending in the right direction. He is finishing more of his pass-rush wins, so if that trend continues, his sack rate should climb over the second half of the year and become more in line with what he’s actually achieving.
