With Bud Dupree out of the season, here are three reasons why Alex Highsmith will impress in his new starting role with the Steelers.
When I saw Bud Dupree go down with a non-contact injury and clutch his knee in the second half against the Ravens, I feared the worst. While Dupree was able to limp off the field, our fears were justified, as it has since been confirmed that he has a torn ACL and that his 2020 season will be over. The former 2015 first-round draft choice by the Steelers was finally starting to come into his own and he was really playing at a high level. Now, Pittsburgh will take the next man up approach.
Ola Adeniyi is a player that many fans and writers thought would be the first guy off the bench in the outside linebacker rotation this year. But that was before we discovered just how impressive Alex Highsmith has been. Here are three reasons why Highsmith will impress in his new, expanded role moving forward:
Highsmith has proven to be a fast learner
If we are to be completely honest with ourselves, there isn’t anyone out there who realistically had high expectations for Alex Highsmith in his rookie season. The 2020 third-round draft choice was coming out of a small football program in Charlotte and was a former college walk-on. However, he has wasted no time in proving doubters wrong.
Despite the massive leap in competition from college to the NFL stage, Highsmith has been thoroughly impressive in his first NFL season. Much of this has to do with him being an incredibly fast learner. He has showcased the ability to drop in coverage effortlessly despite barely doing so in college. It’s not often a team can trust a third-round rookie the way the Steelers have trusted Highsmith.
The Steelers rookie has impressed in limited action
Alex Highsmith hasn’t been given a ton of usage in the first half of his rookie season, but his role has expanded as the season has gone on. When he does take the field on defense, good things typically happen, and he has given us no reason to believe that he’s incapable of handling a starting role opposite of T.J. Watt.
In addition to recording 20 tackles, 1.0 sack, 3 tackles for a loss, and 1 interception this year, Highsmith has also been incredibly efficient with his 141 defensive snaps in 2020. According to Pro Football Focus, the rookie edge defender has earned an impressive overall grade of 81.3 on the season. While he has only played 20 percent of defensive snaps this season, this is still very impressive. In comparison, Bud Dupree has earned an overall grade of just 60.2 on the year.
While this is hardly the most important factor, it’s impressive to see how well Highsmith has done with his snaps this year. It’s true that he could see this efficiency dip as he jumps into a starting role, but his play should have us giving him the benefit of the doubt that he can handle this role.
Highsmith has an ideal blend of traits for the position
The Steelers defense is no longer the same 3-4 scheme that required a tweener-type player like so many years in the past. T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree both fit the mold of true ‘edge defenders’ who could play in odd or even fronts, and it’s important to consider that Pittsburgh runs their nickel defense (four defensive linemen) more than their base.
Still, that doesn’t mean that they can’t benefit from a player with a versatile combination of traits. Highsmith tested as an above-average athlete at the 2020 NFL Combine – earning solid numbers in the 40-yard dash (4.70), broad jump (125”) and 20-yard shuttle (4.31). However, the rookie outside linebacker plays like an even better athlete than his testing numbers would suggest.
While he may not be the biggest or longest edge defender, Highsmith uses an impressive combination of quickness, power, and bend to set the edge and get after the quarterback. Additionally, his hand technique beyond his years and it’s part of the reason for his early success in the NFL. Highsmith is not necessarily an explosive athlete, but he’s an incredibly smooth athlete who can win in a number of different ways.
It’s not fair to expect Alex Highsmith to be Bud Dupree in his first NFL season, and he has some massive shoes to fill as he looks to hold down the fort. Still, Steelers fans have to be impressed with what they have seen so far from the rookie, and we believe that type of play can continue as Highsmith takes on a much larger role with the team.