Steelers’ Alex Highsmith Reveals The Harsh Truth Of Playing For Mike Tomlin’s Inconsistent Defense In 2025

A lot of talk throughout the 2026 offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers has been about the offensive side of the ball. There is some excitement building up now that the team finally has a head coach whose primary focus is not defense. That doesn't change the fact, however, that the organization had the highest-paid unit in the league once again in 2025. Despite extremely high expectations, the unit fell very short. Mike Tomlin's and Teryl Austin's collective was one of the league's most inconsistent, and fans had no idea which version of the group they were getting week-in and week-out.

Patrick Graham will now have the keys to the kingdom on the defensive side, and he will likely have full autonomy over what goes on because of Mike McCarthy's plan to run the offense. The Steelers had employed only three head coaches dating back to 1969 prior to Tomlin stepping down, and the trio were all more so focused on defense, so this will be a very big change in the Steel City.

With free agency right around the corner, it will be fascinating to see what Pittsburgh does with plenty of cap space. Additionally, the team has a projected 12 selections in the 2026 NFL Draft. Anything could happen, which hints at an exciting stretch of the offseason. One challenge Graham must solve is the edge rusher position. He has three formidable options in TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig, but it's hard to get all three on the field at once.

Recently, Highsmith sat down with former NFL head coach Jon Gruden. During the interview, the veteran defender took some accountability for the defense and his teammates. Fans won't necessarily appreciate the comments, because it is something that has been going on for a long time with Tomlin and Austin teaming up to run the show.

"There's some games that we absolutely dominated," Highsmith said. "There's some games we played like a bottom-of-the-league defense. We just weren't consistent enough. I feel like we do have the players to be an elite defense, a legendary defense. We've just got to put it all together; and it just starts with, in practice, communications, details and whatnot."

One of the issues with Highsmith's evaluation of the 2025 campaign is that if the same quote was said after several seasons prior, the shoe would fit. The Steelers have consistently been inconsistent, something that is extremely hard to do with the talent that is at their disposal. When a group is so highly compensated, big things are expected, and the unit has been underperforming for many years.

If a Steelers fan had a dollar for every time a defender has mentioned that the collective needs to execute, that individual would be very rich. It has seemed as if Pittsburgh's defense has fallen short of expectations over and over again. While the players are on the field in uniform, schematics and coaching has to come into play, and blame should fall directly on Tomlin and Austin. Highsmith continued to preach consistency when speaking with Gruden.

"We have all the pieces. We've shown flashes of that, but it's about putting it together week after week after week," Highsmith said. "Not only just creating turnovers, but also getting off the field and taking away long drives."

Graham will have a formidable depth chart to work with. The challenge will be using the strengths of each player, and tying it all together to make sure that consistency finally arrives.

Steelers Have To Solve The Predicament In The Secondary

While Pittsburgh is all set at the edge rusher spot, there are needs pretty much everywhere else. Two specific areas to keep an eye on are the cornerback and safety positions. With plenty of guys getting set to test free agency and not a whole lot of depth right now, the Steelers are going to be tasked with slightly revamping that unit to match up with Graham's style.

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