When it comes to free agency, the Pittsburgh Steelers typically have three groups of players in terms of priorities.
At the bottom are the players they don’t offer a contract to. Should they come up empty on offers, Pittsburgh will often bring that type of player back.
Then there is the group of guys who gets re-signed as soon as their free agency begins, keeping them off the market.
Finally, there is a third group, who Pittsburgh typically tries to get locked up a year ahead of free agency. The player who falls into this category the closest this offseason is outside linebacker Alex Highsmith.
Highsmith had a breakout season in 2022. He finished with 14.5 sacks, the sixth-most in the NFL. We can debate why and how the numbers happened as they did, but in the final analysis, Highsmith finished among the elite in the NFL. And he’s probably going to want to parlay that into a big contract extension.
But what should Pittsburgh do? Pay him based on last season or wait and see if he can do it again? If Highsmith has another big season, his asking price is only going to go up. If he falters, he loses some leverage. If I’m the Steelers front office, I wait. There’s no reason to panic. Let Highsmith prove he is among the elite edge rushers in the game. If he does it, pay the man in the 2024 offseason.
Let us know in the comments if you would try to sign Highsmith this offseason or hold out and see what he does in 2023.
