{"id":52721,"date":"2025-06-02T02:45:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T02:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52721"},"modified":"2025-06-02T02:45:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T02:45:40","slug":"breaking-steelers-alex-highsmith-delivers-strong-message-on-rookie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52721","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Steelers\u2019 Alex Highsmith Delivers Strong Message on Rookie.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1689623175.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1689623175.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1689623175.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-1689623175.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Alex Highsmith Jack Sawyer\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"157\" data-dom-ready-time=\"188\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher Alex Highsmith has high expectations for fourth-round rookie Jack Sawyer.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of excitement for the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0around their first two 2025 NFL draft picks \u2014 defensive lineman\u00a0Derrick Harmon\u00a0and running back\u00a0Kaleb Johnson. There\u2019s plenty of hype around sixth-round quarterback\u00a0Will Howard\u00a0as well. But Thursday, Steelers edge rusher\u00a0Alex Highsmith\u00a0made sure to give fourth-round rookie\u00a0Jack Sawyer\u00a0some love.<\/p>\n<p>Highsmith sent a strong message to reporters on the rookie edge rusher.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s gonna be a dog for us. Like I said, he\u2019s got his right head on his shoulders. He works hard,\u201d Highsmith said,\u00a0via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. \u201cHe\u2019s got the right mindset. It\u2019s been cool being able to interact with him and help him out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI came in as a rookie, and T.J. [Watt] and Bud [Dupree] helped me out a lot as well. That\u2019s one thing I want to be able to pour into the new guys that are coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers drafted Sawyer at No. 123 overall in\u00a0the 2025 NFL Draft. Although he was a Day 3 selection, similar to Howard, there\u2019s excitement around Sawyer because of what he did for the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes last year.<\/p>\n<p>Sawyer posted nine sacks with three forced fumbles and two fumble returns for touchdowns. One of those touchdown returns came late in the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff semifinals.<\/p>\n<p>He also had seven pass defenses with nine tackles for loss and an interception in 16 games last year.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Rookie Jack Sawyer Receiving Help From Steelers Pro Bowl Edge Rushers<\/h2>\n<p>As a third-round pick, Sawyer is likely a developmental project for Pittsburgh. That should be perfectly fine for the Steelers.<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, edge rusher starters\u00a0T.J. Watt and Highsmith will return for Pittsburgh. Those two combined for 17.5 sacks last season, and that was arguably a \u201cdown year\u201d for the duo.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Herbig\u00a0will also be back as the Steelers No. 3 edge rusher. Herbig built on a strong rookie campaign,\u00a0posting\u00a05.5 sacks with five tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hits with four forced fumbles in 13 games last season.<\/p>\n<p>That group has been tremendously beneficial for Sawyer in offseason workouts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"nfl-c-body-part nfl-c-body-part--text\">\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a good experience so far and they\u2019ve helped me with any type of questions, making sure I\u2019m picking the plays up well and understand what I\u2019m doing right now. That\u2019s the biggest thing,\u201d\u00a0Sawyer told Steelers.com\u2019s Teresa Varley.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Sawyer suggested he is perfectly fine approaching 2025 more as a developmental season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s what I wanted to do, come in a group like this, and be able to learn, and watch these guys, and see how they attack every day as a professional,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0\u201cBeing able to do that the last couple weeks already has been really good for me. It\u2019s been exciting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really excited for the future, going forward, and beginning camp with the pads on, seeing even more so what they\u2019re like, and how they go about their daily routines, and what they do post-practice, that type of stuff. So, it has been good.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Steelers Edge Rushing Depth Entering 2025<\/h2>\n<p>Pittsburgh can have \u201ckid gloves\u201d with Sawyer because of the organization\u2019s edge rushing depth.<\/p>\n<p>Behind Herbig, the Steelers also have veterans\u00a0Jeremiah Moon\u00a0and\u00a0Eku Leota\u00a0on their offseason roster. Those two edge rushers combined to play 10 games for Pittsburgh last season.<\/p>\n<p>Sawyer will likely enter the 2025 regular season as the team\u2019s No. 4 edge rusher. He seems to be in a similar spot as Herbig was two years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers also drafted Herbig in the fourth round of\u00a0the 2023 NFL Draft. But even with Watt and Highsmith, Herbig has earned the right for more playing time going forward.<\/p>\n<p>If Sawyer fulfills his promise, he could push for significant playing time down the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher Alex Highsmith has high expectations for fourth-round rookie Jack Sawyer. There\u2019s a lot of excitement for the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0around their first two 2025&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Steelers\u2019 Alex Highsmith Delivers Strong Message on Rookie.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52721\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Steelers\u2019 Alex Highsmith Delivers Strong Message on Rookie.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher Alex Highsmith has high expectations for fourth-round rookie Jack Sawyer. 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