Tim Benz: Alex Highsmith's 3-point plan to replace Bud Dupree as T.J. Watt's OLB running mate

We already know that Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith is one of the team’s biggest variables heading into 2021.

Replacing Bud Dupree effectively will be no small task. Dupree had a total of 19.5 sacks and six forced fumbles over his last 27 games as a Steeler prior to a season-ending ACL injury on Dec. 2 last year.

Highsmith replaced him in the starting lineup as a rookie and had just one sack in the final five regular-season games and the playoff loss to Cleveland.

Yet most folks around the franchise insist Highsmith — the team’s third-round draft choice in 2020 — has plenty of room to grow.

So how does Highsmith go from an unknown question to a hot commodity?

During organized team activities last month, Highsmith gave a three-point plan toward improvement.

The first, “Continue to work on my mental game. Study the most film, and have the highest I.Q. that I can have,” Highsmith said.

That strikes me as the least of Highsmith’s concerns. I have yet to find anyone within the Steelers offices who will slight Highsmith’s mental acuity, attention to detail, coachability or willingness to learn.

The second thing that Highsmith brought up, though, might be his biggest challenge.

“Get stronger. Gain a few pounds. Put on a lot of muscle,” Highsmith continued.

In terms of raw weight, Highsmith says he’s only up three or four pounds, from 250 at the end of last year to 253 or 254 at the start of OTAs. But he insists it’s solid muscle mass, which is leading to his desired result.

“I feel like I’ve done that. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot stronger. Being strong in the run game and pass rushing,” Highsmith said.

Finally, Highsmith said it’s a matter of refining technique.

“Polishing my moves. I feel like it has been a great offseason so far. I’m ready for people to see what I’ve been working on,” Highsmith said.

If Highsmith is critical of his need to sharpen his repertoire, that is understandable. Honing the technical aspects of pass rushing was certainly the last part of Dupree’s game to come around. Many Steelers fans can remember the frustrations of his first four years when Dupree would take long, arching routes to the quarterback. While it looked like he was often beating the opposing blockers physically, he was always running himself out of the play.

By his final two seasons, Dupree seemed to kick that habit and became a very useful weapon on defense. His work paid off to the tune of $35 million in guarantees from the Tennessee Titans in free agency.

And where Dupree had to build up a Rolodex of moves to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks, Highsmith may have entered the NFL with a more advanced database.

“He has a great repertoire of moves already,” fellow linebacker T.J. Watt said this week at Steelers minicamp. “Coming off his rookie year, he can spin. He can do his ghost move. He is developing more power in his game. And I think he can handle the run well.”

Again, that point about creating power and manufacturing more explosiveness out of his 6-foot-3, 253-pound frame is the biggest question surrounding Highsmith. He’s an inch or two shorter than Dupree and about 15 pounds lighter.

Where Dupree had a reputation of being a physically gifted but unmolded piece of clay for his first four years, Highsmith is basically the opposite. He has that “high floor” quality head coach Mike Tomlin likes to observe in young players. In other words, a consistent player who mentally grasps the game and can be counted on to make all the necessary plays that come his way.

But does Highsmith have the “high ceiling” Dupree eventually showed in his final two seasons? Does he possess that kinetic, splash-play ability we eventually got used to seeing from Dupree before his injury in 2020?

Watt seems to think so. And if opposing blocking schemes disagree, the All-Pro thinks that’ll be a mistake Highsmith can exploit in 2021.

“Alex is a really talented pass rusher himself, too,” Watt insisted. “If guys want to slide my way and chip, he is going to have one-on-ones on the backside and I’m very confident he is going to win a majority of those, too. I don’t think there is a way to totally protect against both of us at one time.”

If that’s the case, maybe Highsmith can become the running mate on the other side of Watt that Dupree was after all.

“We’ve got great expectations for a second-year guy in terms of proceeding in his career and taking a step not only in understanding the preparedness but production and consistency,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “He’s been a highly professional, mature young man. So I think it’s reasonable to expect those things to happen. But make no mistake, before you start talking about dynamic duos and tandems and so forth, it requires two big-time, varsity players. He’s working to grow and improve his game.”

Highsmith better be “varsity” in his second year. Because the “junior varsity” on the second line of the depth chart is essentially journeyman Cassius Marsh and rookie sixth-round pick Quincy Roche (Miami, Fla.).

In 2021, Highsmith has to go from “question mark” to “unquestionably worthy” of being a starter. It took Dupree about four years to do it in Pittsburgh. Highsmith needs to do it after one.