The proverbial ball is in rookie outside linebacker Alex Highsmith’s court to assume the mantle on the right edge of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense for the remainder of the 2020 season. He will be called upon to take over for veteran Bud Dupree after the latter suffered a torn ACL in the team’s last game.
The third-round rookie, who came out of a small school and had no Spring practices or preseason games, has played all of 139 defensive snaps, and hasn’t seen more than 25 snaps in any one game, but he will be asked to take on a much larger load going forward.