The Pittsburgh Steelers added a new player to their outside linebacker rotation at the trade deadline with Preston Smith being acquired for a seventh-round pick. He’s in his 10th NFL season, but that doesn’t mean he is going to meaningfully cut into T.J. Watt or Alex Highsmith’s snaps in the starting lineup.
“We let those guys play,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo on X. “If they can’t, they come out and get a break and then go back in the game when they’re ready.”
There is no true rotation. The only form of a rotation is when one of Watt or Highsmith needs a break.