Steelers' Alex Highsmith Gives Authentic Plan Behind Season Preparation

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going through Organized Team Activities this week as football slowly starts to ramp up heading towards the 2026 NFL regular season. The team will be working under an entirely new coaching staff as Mike McCarthy enters his inaugural season in the Steel City. McCarthy has his work cut out for him, but the team did have weapons added to it on both sides of the football. He brought in Patrick Graham as his new defensive coordinator when he assembled his staff. Star edge rusher Alex Highsmith spoke on Monday about all this, as well as a new approach to preparing for the season.

Highsmith was specifically asked about some soft tissue tears that he has battled through in recent years. The six-year NFL veteran mentioned that he is adding more to his routine ahead of football activities and workouts as he prepares to enter year number seven. He appears to be ready for an explosive season up front on defense for Graham's first year as a coach with the Black and Gold.

"Yeah absolutely," Highsmith said. "I mean, I've done a lot, especially the last couple years. You know, I had one or two last year as well, but I feel like I've done a lot to take care of my body this offseason intentionally. I'm stretching more, more mobility. I know I got to continue to do that as I'm going into year seven now. I know for me the type of player I can be when I'm healthy."

One of the strongest parts of the defensive unit is their front. Highsmith worked last year alongside TJ Watt and Nick Herbig, who had a breakout year during the 2025 campaign. Now it appears that Highsmith knows exactly what needs to be done to be the best version of himself and avoid nagging injuries in 2026. If he can do that, that front presence for Pittsburgh will be a dominant unit yet again.

Highsmith collected 50 combined tackles in 2025, with 9.5 sacks as well as 15 tackles for loss. With those numbers, he also had a forced fumble last season in the Black and Gold. Should he be able to avoid nagging injuries, then that one forced fumble, albeit a hypothetical, could turn into perhaps even more in 2026.

Steelers Providing Graham Plenty Of Talent To Work With On Defense

Star cornerback Joey Porter Jr., like Herbig, also had a breakout 2025 season while also limiting penalties against him. That part of Porter's game was something that plagued him a bit early on, but in 2025, he appeared to have turned a corner.

The team also signed safety Jaquan Brisker as well as cornerback Jamel Dean in their efforts to keep adding pieces to the 2026 roster. It should also be noted that Brisker and Porter played together with the Penn State Nittany Lions in three seasons where they were defensive stalwarts in college. Graham, who has been highly praised, now has a lot more resources to work with than when he was with the Las Vegas Raiders. Under his leadership, he turned them into a top-ten scoring unit during the 2023 NFL season.

He will now get a chance to work his magic in the Steel City in 2026 with a much more talented defensive unit. They boast an especially strong edge rushing presence, and Highsmith can improve his already great contributions to that by avoiding nagging injuries during the upcoming season. From the sounds of it, he appears to know exactly what he needs to do in order to do that and be a great asset for Graham in his first year with the Steelers.