The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line and defensive line, which in this case includes their EDGE rushers, ranked highly in Pro Football Focus’ unit rankings, and the play of both Isaac Seumalo and Alex Highsmith helped boost the Steelers in the rankings. In videos for The 33rd Team, PFF’s Steve Palazzolo and Sam Monson made their all-underrated offense and all-underrated defense, which featured Seumalo and left guard and Highsmith at EDGE.
Monson said that Seumalo is just a “very good” offensive lineman
“I think generally [he] was seen as the sort of weak link or the relative weak link on a five-man offensive line in Philadelphia that was absolutely phenomenal. But he goes to Pittsburgh last season and continues playing at a really high level. He’s just a very good offensive lineman at left guard,” Monson said.
Palazzolo praised Highsmith’s spin move and building on his early-career production.
“Has that killer spin move, and another guy who was productive early in his career and has continued to just build upon it over these last couple seasons,” he said.
Highsmith had 14.5 sacks two seasons ago with T.J. Watt missing time with a partially torn pectoral. While his sack total dropped to seven, Highsmith still played at an incredibly high level and seemed to improve from 2022, despite the counting stats not being as impressive. He’s so important to Pittsburgh’s defense as another high-level pass rusher across from Watt, giving defenses two edge rushers to worry about in addition to Cameron Heyward in the interior.
As for Seumalo, the Steelers signed him ahead of last season as part of their offensive line rebuild, and while he got off to a little bit of a slow start, he quickly turned things around and emerged as an anchor for the offensive line. Seumalo will once again play a big role, as he’s probably Pittsburgh’s most talented lineman and someone who can take on a leadership role for rookies Troy Fautanu, Zach Frazier and Mason McCormick.
There’s no doubt that both Highsmith and Seumalo are a bit underrated, but they’re both essential pieces to Pittsburgh’s offense and simply really good at what they do. It’s no surprise to see either make the all-underrated team, and both could be in line for big seasons as the Steelers look to return to the playoffs. With the additions to Pittsburgh’s defense, Highsmith in particular could wind up putting up a big season. Meanwhile Seumalo might be the best player on an offense line that ranked in the top 10 ahead of the season.
It’s going to be fun to watch both this season as they continue to be among the best players at their position while flying under the radar.
