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Our friends over at Touchdown Wire have put together an impressive list of their most underrated players on each NFL roster. We highly recommend you check out the full list here but let’s talk about who they target for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
TD Wire listed outside linebacker Alex Highsmith as the Steelers most underrated player. Here’s what they had to say about Highsmith:
Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt are the rockstars of the Steelers’ estimable defensive line, and for good reason — but in Alex Smith, Pittsburgh has another pass-rusher who has been exponentially more effective in each of his three NFL seasons. Taken in the third round of the 2020 draft out of Charlotte, Highsmith started his NFL career as a rotational player with two sacks and 21 total pressures in his rookie campaign.
Those numbers shot up to nine sacks and 38 pressures in 2021 as Highsmith graduated to a starting role, and in 2022, it all came to a head. That’s when Highsmith put up 15 sacks and 55 total pressures, looking at times like one of the league’s better and more multi-faceted edge defenders. Highsmith can bring a fearsome bull-rush to any tackle, but he’s just as adept at jumping multiple gaps inside to disrupt, and as Carolina’s Ickey Ekwonu discovered in Week 15, Highsmith has quite the killer spin move.
I think if you are looking in terms of Highsmith being underrated it is more in the context of nationally. A perfect example of this was Highsmith not being named to the Pro Bowl and teammate T.J. Watt making the team despite being on IR. Within the fanbase, I’d argue guard James Daniels is the most underrated guy on the roster. He joined the Steelers last season as a free agent and has been the team’s best offensive lineman ever since.
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