For the Pittsburgh Steelers, most of the attention from around the media gets placed on OLB T.J. Watt, but he is just one half of the elite tandem currently on the roster. Somehow, just a year after notching 14.5 sacks, Alex Highsmith flew under the radar with the great season he had. The sack total wasn’t as gaudy, but his stat line included 57 total tackles, 34 solo tackles, eight tackles for loss, seven sacks, 18 QB hits, three passes defensed, two forced fumbles, and two interceptions with one returned for a touchdown.
Per Pro Football Reference’s approximate value system, Highsmith had the single best year of his career, and the numbers outside of the sack total back that up. He was also credited with 26 total pressures by PFR, or 69 total pressures by Pro Football Focus depending on which site you look at. He was disrupting opposing quarterbacks at an impressive rate overall, so don’t let the seven sacks sway your thinking.
The AV system puts Highsmith’s 2023 season above any single season that OLB Jason Worilds or OLB Bud Dupree had in Pittsburgh and higher than any season by James Harrison since 2011 or LaMarr Woodley since 2010. He had the single-best OLB season for a Steeler not named T.J. Watt in over a decade.
I know Steelers fans have a tricky relationship with PFF at the moment, but even they folks there came away impressed. They gave him his first “elite” overall grade of 90 or higher for a single season, including a 79.7 run defense grade and an 86.2 pass-rush grade.
In the early portion of the season, when the Steelers’ offense was struggling to put points on the board, Highsmith just about defeated the Cleveland Browns by himself. He returned an interception off a tipped pass for a touchdown and forced a fumble that Watt returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Steelers narrowly won that game, 26-22, and Highsmith was directly responsible for over half of the Steelers’ points. After a rough Week One, he helped the Steelers avoid digging themselves an 0-2 hole on the season.
Given how narrowly the Steelers snuck into the playoffs, it could have been an entirely different story to end the season had Highsmith not taken over that game. And those weren’t the only big plays he made. One of the more impressive came against the Cincinnati Bengals after he read QB Jake Browning’s eyes in his backpedal and undercut a crossing route to intercept the pass.
Highsmith was signed to a four-year extension last offseason, which made him one of the highest-paid edge rushers in the league. Just one year later, that deal is looking like a bargain. Watt and Highsmith figure to be together in Pittsburgh for at least two more seasons until the end of Watt’s current contract and likely longer if and when the Steelers extend Watt again. This ensures that the defense will remain competitive into the future and has a chance to be among the league’s best if the Steelers add one or two more pieces.
