Steelers Now
Cincinnati Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. gave Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith high praise during a recent appearance on ESPN’s NFL Live. He believes the heartbeat of the Steelers runs through their defensive front.
“I think that’s honestly the heartbeat of their team, is their defensive front,” Brown said. “They’ve got a number of guys man, in my opinion, that are starters and high-level players on this level, that have proven it. T.J. Watt, guys like Alex Highsmith, who many not get their credit and respect that they deserve. They’ve got a really good front. I mean, like I said, it’s the heartbeat of their team.”
“As everybody knows with T.J., man, he’s impossible to keep off the stat sheet,” Brown said. “I mean, there’s been times I’ve played him, I thought I did a good job in pass-protection. And he’s got two tackles for a loss on me, man.”
Pro Football Focus tabbed Watt and Highsmith as the best edge rusher duo in the NFL.
“The Steelers feature arguably the best defensive line in football, led by a top-tier edge defender pair,” Zoltán Buday of PFF wrote. “While Highsmith was hindered by injuries last season, he was still among the most effective pass rushers in the league when on the field. His 89.3 PFF pass-rushing grade ranked seventh among 109 edge defenders. On the other hand, Watt led the position with a 90.3 PFF run-defense grade and ranked sixth in PFF pass-rushing grade (90.1), one spot ahead of Highsmith.”
Watt, 30, did have a bit of a down year in 2024, registering the third least sacks in a season (11.5) in his career. The other two seasons were his rookie year (seven sacks) and 2022 (5.5 sacks) when he played in just 10 games due to a knee injury. Coupled with injuries last season, Watt was slowed down due to teams scheming against him since he doesn’t switch sides. That could change this year.
“Yeah, I think [switching spots] is something we definitely got to include in the game, because, just like you said, teams were kind of catching on to what we were doing,” Highsmith said at OTAs. “If we’re able to move around to different spots and stuff like that, we’ll be able to get teams off balance — and they can’t just sit there and max protect.”
6-foot-4, 242 Pounds, 27 Years Old, Sixth Season
Acquired: The Steelers drafted Highsmith with the 102nd overall pick in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Last Year: Highsmith, who was in his fifth season out of Charlotte, dealt with two separate injuries in 2024 that sidelined him for six games. It was a difficult season for Highsmith health wise, but was still productive. He was recognized by PFF as one of the top players of the 2024 season, ranking 65th overall. When healthy, he averaged 4.5 pressures per game and consistently graded as one...
