Week 2’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks required the Steelers to do a lot of self-reflection and roster manipulation.

Luckily, linebacker Alex Highsmith’s ankle injury isn’t as serious as the team had originally thought. 

Highsmith suffered a high-ankle sprain early on in Week 2’s loss, but according to NFL Insider, Ian Rapoport, Highsmith won’t be going on injured reserve.

Should he have found his way to IR, Highsmith would have had to miss at least four games, and given Pittsburgh’s injury issues, losing their top linebacker had potentially catastrophic repercussions.  

Through one and a half games played, Highsmith has been one of the top linebackers in the NFL. He leads all in PRP (Pass Rush Productivity), and he also is second in pressure rate just behind Denver Broncos’ Nik Bonitto.

However, this current injury to Highsmith is going to start raising concerns about his availability, and if he could be falling into the category of “damaged goods.”

In 2022, he had posted the best season of his career, recording 14.5 sacks and a league-leading five forced fumbles.

However, the following season, that sack total was cut in half, though the rest of his numbers held up just fine. He only had two less quarterback hits and six less total tackles.

But that’s when the injuries started to pile up.

While his sack productivity was returning to form, he missed six games for two separate injuries.

Pittsburgh highly values the sixth-year veteran, and it shows when it rewarded him with a juicy four-year contract worth $68 million.

But your best ability is your availability.

Apart from Highsmith’s injury the Steelers had also lost Isaiahh Loudermilk, on top of losing top draft pick Derrick Harmon with an injury on the last game of the preseason.

Losing these key contributors that cover the middle of the field has raised concern about their run defense.

In the first two games, Pittsburgh has allowed over 100 yards to both Breece Hall of the Jets and Kenneth Walker III of the Seahawks – a far cry from a team that finished sixth in rushing defense last season.

Not only that, only two rushers from all of last season had rushed for more than 100 yards – Derrick Henry of the Ravens and Tyrone Tracy of the Giants. 

There’s a lot of work to be done in the Steel City, but with it being so early on in the season there’s more than enough room to fix it.