Highsmith Looking to Reach New Heights

It has been about a week since Alex Highsmith signed a well-deserved 4 year/$68 million dollar contract. This deal now makes him the 11th highest paid OLB in the NFL, which puts him the same pay tier as Tennesses’ Harold Landry (#10) and New York Jets’ CJ Mosley (#12). I would consider Alex better than both of these players and believe that he is really good value for the Pittsburgh Steelers, in a league where the price for premier talent comes at a premium.

Highsmith was drafted out of Charlotte in the third round of the 2020 NFL draft. He began his career behind Bud Dupree and developed rather quickly, leading Pittsburgh to move on from a linebacker that gave them 11.5 sacks in 2019. Alex has gotten better every year since 2020, a silent 6 sacks in 2021, to a great season in 2022 where he had 14.5 sacks.

This signing makes sense for the Steelers because Kenny Pickett is only going into year 2 of his rookie deal. Assuming that Matt Canada doesn’t break him, and Kenny continues to improve, the Steelers will likely pick up his Fifth-Year option (or extend him). That will give them at least four more years before they will have to resign their franchise quarterback. Smart teams take advantage of their cheap rookie QB deals, and the Steelers (of course) are one of those teams. This allows them to afford to pay luxury players like Highsmith and he is a luxury signing. While they were paying Ben Roethlisberger, they had to let players like Bud Dupree and Javon Hargrave leave for free agency. This deal doesn’t get done 2 years ago. 

Here is the rub: TJ Watts availability plays dividends on Alex’s ceiling. During the 7 games that Watt was unavailable, Highsmith tallied 3.5 sacks and 2 tackles for loss. This is something that is concerning to Yinz considering he finished the season with 14.5 sacks and 15 tackles for loss. This was something that Alex’s predecessor, Dupree, struggled with as well. Things go well when All-Pro TJ Watt is going well. Alex was still aggressive and was a valuable asset to the team during TJ’s absence and I expect him to continue to develop into a guy who can produce with or without Watt.