Alex Highsmith
Pittsburgh SteelersModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 13 games
Draft & College
He went about where consensus had him.
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
2022 Pro Bowl plus career STTM range mostly stable in the tier 3-6 band across five years puts Highsmith in the small group of consistent secondary pass-rushers behind elite EDGE1s. The Charlotte Group of Five 3rd-round origin plus six years of NFL starter reps opposite T.J. Watt gives him real structural value. The 2026 question is whether Highsmith returns to tier 2 territory or whether the tier 3 finish becomes the stable late-prime baseline.
Highsmith came out of Charlotte (Group of Five) as the Pittsburgh Steelers' 3rd-round pick (102nd overall) in 2020 and made the 2022 Pro Bowl after 14.5 sacks. He has anchored the Steelers' edge opposite T.J. Watt across six seasons. His STTM career runs tier 4 (#25) in 2021, tier 4 (#25) in 2022, tier 6 (#45) in 2023, tier 3 (#22) in 2024, and tier 3 (#18) in 2025.
Strengths
- 2022 Pro Bowl plus the 14.5-sack season confirms a top-25 edge defender ceiling exists when the opposite-side pressure is strong.
- Career STTM range stable in the tier 3-6 band across five years confirms structural consistency that few mid-tier edges sustain.
Concerns
- Highsmith's ceiling is heavily T.J. Watt-dependent (opposite-side pressure rates) which creates structural risk if Watt's pace declines.
- Career STTM range mostly tier 3-4 with the tier 6 (#45) 2023 dip flags the ceiling as scheme-dependent rather than structural.
What to watch: Whether Highsmith returns to tier 2 (top 15) in 2026 plus earns his second Pro Bowl, the threshold for confirming the 2022 ceiling is reachable.