Pittsburgh Steelers OLB Alex Highsmith posted Pro Bowl-worthy numbers during the 2022 season. With 14.5 sacks, 12 TFLs, and a league-leading 5 forced fumbles, he certainly deserved it, but voters favored T.J. Watt. In case you forgot, Watt missed much of the season due to injury and put up pedestrian numbers.
Still, Highsmith persevered and arguably played even better on the whole in 2023 without producing at the same level. His numbers dropped to seven sacks, eight TFLs, and two fumbles, though he added two interceptions. And he admitted that the production numbers do affect him, for better or worse.
“It does get to my head when for example, I know my sack numbers were down this year, compared to last year”, he said, via Teresa Varley for the team’s website. “But I felt overall I was rushing as good, if not better, getting pressures and stuff like that”.
According to Pro Football Focus, as just one source, Highsmith recorded 69 pressures in 2023 to 55 in 2022. He recorded 19 combined sacks and hits, though he had 20 the previous season. But he also had 25 more pass-rush snaps in 2022, 526 to 501.
Crucially, he performed much better in the all-important Pass Rush Win Rate in “True Pass Sets”. During the 2022 season, PFF credits him with a 12.1-percent win rate. Last season, however, he posted a very impressive 21.5-percent win rate, slightly better than even T.J. Watt at 20.3. Watt, of course, led the NFL with 19 sacks, or 12 more than Highsmith had. I’m sure he takes great comfort in this.
“Sometimes the numbers game and stats can get my head”, he confessed. “The games that I played best in, the games that I go out and perform best, are the games where I play free and just go out there and have fun and not worry about the pressure, but just go out and just do what I do what I love to do, do what God has blessed me to do, and that’s to play football”.
One of Highsmith’s highlights, of course, was the Steelers’ Week 2 win over the Cleveland Browns. He recorded an interception that he returned for a touchdown, then a strip sack which Watt recovered for another defensive touchdown. The 14 defensive points produced the only Steelers victory in two years in which the defense allowed 20 or more.
Up to this point in his career, Highsmith has only recorded more than seven sacks in a season once. Though he didn’t start for most of his rookie season, he had just two sacks that year. In his first full season as a starter in 2021, he finished with six sacks. Thus far, his 14-5-sack 2022 campaign is the outlier.
The Steelers ponied up to give him a big extension after he put up those numbers. While his tape from last season shows little to no drop-off, however, you always want to see more tangible “bang” for your buck. Even Highsmith admits he wants to finish more of these plays. But perhaps he needs to get out of his own head first.
