Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: OLB Alex Highsmith
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: After exiting last Thursday’s game with what later turned out to be a concussion, the veteran outside linebacker is ready to get back on the field. Highsmith practiced as a full participant yesterday and was cleared from the concussion protocol, just a day after T.J. Watt had done the same.
At it turns out, for as much as the Steelers may feel they have improved their depth at the outside linebacker position, they are still much better when they have their stars on the field. Not that they didn’t know this. If you look at the snap counts, there doesn’t tend to be much work for Markus Golden and Nick Herbig when the starters are healthy.
Indeed, you might recall that the Steelers actually made Golden a healthy scratch for last Thursday’s game. While that might speak well for what they think of Herbig in believing he could be the top edge reserve, that decision was made because of Golden’s lack of contributions on special teams.
Fortunately, with both T.J. Watt and now Alex Highsmith clearing the concussion protocol, it seems as though we will avoid a situation in which Golden and/or Herbig have to start. Both exited the last game with concussions, though Watt did return a short time later, and neither of them were actually diagnosed in-game.
No, that came later on during the week. Highsmith officially exited with what was deemed a neck injury, and it was a couple days later that it was announced he was being placed into the concussion protocol. Obviously he reported or otherwise exhibited some symptoms after the fact.
Highsmith has six sacks on the season with 49 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 16 quarterback hits, an interception, two forced fumbles, and two passes defensed. The pass he picked off he was able to return for a touchdown.
He only played 17 snaps against the New England Patriots before he was forced off the field, having played 60-plus snaps or at least 90 percent of the team total in the previous six games. He has already played over 700 snaps on the year, or 81 percent, and obviously that number would be higher if he didn’t miss a chunk of the last game.
