Could the Steelers deal star edge rusher Alex Highsmith this offseason?<\/p>\n
PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) \u2013 The NFL kicked off the month of June with a bang, as multiple teams made significant signings and trades over the past couple of days. At the center of the chaos was the AFC North, or more specifically, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n
It started when the Browns completed one of the biggest trades in franchise history on Monday, dealing two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams for a heavy return of edge rusher Jared Verse and three early-round draft picks. Less than 24 hours later, the Steelers made a splash of their own and reaffirmed their commitment to young linebacker Nick Herbig by inking him to a four-year, $100 million extension.<\/p>\n
With Herbig now locked in and TJ Watt still amid a lucrative contract that will keep him in Pittsburgh until the close of 2028, attention now shifts to the final third of the Steelers\u2019 trio of pass rushers. Could Herbig\u2019s contract indicate Pittsburgh may be looking to deal Alex Highsmith just as the Browns did Garrett?<\/p>\n
93.7 The Fan Morning Show hosts Adam Crowley and Dorin Dickerson dug into this question earlier today. Crowley argued that if the Steelers chose to move on from Highsmith before next season begins, the return would likely be draft capital more than anything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you moved on from an Alex Highsmith prior to this season, I don\u2019t think you\u2019re getting a position player in return. I would imagine you\u2019re probably getting a draft pick. (The Browns) did, but that\u2019s Myles Garrett,\u201d Crowley said.<\/p>\n
Both hosts agreed that a wide receiver could also be thrown into the pot in a sufficient return for Highsmith, based on the value he brings to the Steelers right now.<\/p>\n
In his fifth NFL season this past year, Highsmith racked up 9.5 sacks compared to Herbig\u2019s 7.5 and Watt\u2019s 7. Highsmith\u2019s signature splash play in 2025 came in Pittsburgh\u2019s Week 9 27-20 victory at home over the Indianapolis Colts, where he logged his first and only forced fumble of the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe Highsmith could be a significant upgrade for somebody, (but) I don\u2019t see a team with aspirations of winning it all giving up a rostered player to get another rostered player right now,\u201d Crowley said.<\/p>\n
Given how much of an impact Highsmith had last season, Crowley and Dickerson also agreed the Steelers will likely want to keep him around to see how he can continue to gel with his fellow pass rushers. However, when Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo joined the show later on, he shared a much different viewpoint when asked about the likelihood Highsmith would be back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t put it past Omar to try and pull that off (bringing all three linebackers back), but I\u2019ll say no. I\u2019ll stick with my gut reaction and say by the time the regular season starts, all three will not be here,\u201d Fittipaldo said.<\/p>\n
Though it\u2019s unknown if Highsmith will be playing elsewhere in the NFL come next season, it\u2019s not impossible. As the Cleveland Browns showed the league earlier this week, almost anyone in the NFL can be dealt for the right price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could the Steelers deal star edge rusher Alex Highsmith this offseason? PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) \u2013 The NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7664,303,1418,73,75,74,1833],"class_list":["post-209817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-alex-highsmith","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}