On Wednesday morning, edge rusher Alex Highsmith and the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to terms on a new five-year contract worth $68 million. This makes Highsmith one of the highest-paid edge rushers in the NFL after his breakout 2022 season. Here are our takeaways from the signing.
Definitely a fair deal
On paper, this sounds like a ton of money for the second-best pass rusher on the team. But getting Highsmith for just over half of what the team signed T.J. Watt to last offseason is a solid deal. Highsmith has 21.5 sacks through his first 38 starts. Watt had 25.5 through his first 38 starts.
Contract will matter a lot next season
We don’t have Highsmith’s year-by-year breakdown yet but for this season there isn’t likely to be much impact at all on the salary cap. But starting in 2024, general manager Omar Khan will have to work his salary cap magic to keep signing players with this new cap hit on the books in a big way.
Puts opposing quarterbacks on notice
Over the last two seasons, Watt and Highsmith have combined for 48.5 sacks. And this is with Watt missing seven games last season. Highsmith isn’t going to be the type of play who throttles down after his contract and we expect him to amp up his game even more in 2023.
