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Steelers Snap Counts: Can Less Be More for Alex Highsmith, T.J. Watt?

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Steelers Alex Highsmith T.J. Watt
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebackers Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt in a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 30, 2023. -- Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

PITTSBURGH — Sometimes, less is more, and that might be the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers top edge rushing duo of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.

Watt and Highsmith played 45 and 47 snaps, respectively, last Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals, while backups Markus Golden and Nick Herbig suited up 20 and 17 times. The 37 snaps from the Steelers backup edge rushers was the second-most in a game this season, and the most since the blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1.

But less playing time didn’t stop the top duo from being productive. Watt had a sack and Highsmith had a sack and an interception. In fact, it seems that on the whole, less might be more for those two.

In the five games where Watt has played more than 90% of the Steelers’ snaps, he has five sacks. In the five games he has played less than 80% of the team’s snaps, he has seven sacks.

Watt is trying to earn his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award and is one of the best defenders in the world, so it makes sense for him to be out there as much as possible, but the Steelers might be better off leaning on their backups a little bit more and keeping Watt fresher for end-game scenarios that often involve a lot of passing.

2 + 18 = ???

Mason Rudolph has been with the Steelers since 2018. Diontae Johnson has been with the team since 2019. They are two of the three longest-tenured Steelers on the offensive side of the ball, along with tackle Chuks Okorafor. To put it another way, George Pickens was a freshman in college the first year Rudolph and Johnson were teammates.

But even though they’ve been together forever, they’ve never really had that strong of a connection on the field. In 12 games together, Johnson’s average production has been a pedestrian four catches for 49 yards, and one touchdown every three games

Not only did Pickens get most of the yards from Rudolph in his first start of 2023 on Saturday, he played a lot more, too. Pickens had 46 snaps compared to 37 for Johnson. Even Allen Robinson II had more than Johnson with 40. Johnson’s role this week should be interesting to monitor.

STEELERS OFFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS

Pos Player SF CLE LV HOU BAL LAR JAX TEN GB CLE CIN ARI NE IND CIN
QB Kenny
Pickett		 63 54 62 49 66 59 28 65 65 58 71 30 0 0 INJ
QB Mitch
Trubisky		 0 0 0 10 0 0 39 0 0 0 0 31 70 52 0
QB Mason
Rudolph		 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 QB3 0 6 59
RB Najee
Harris		 33 31 31 29 37 34 35 38 33 33 38 36 40 20 26
RB Jaylen
Warren		 25 23 28 29 32 27 32 26 33 26 34 36 37 40 34
RB Anthony McFarland 5 IR IR IR IR IR IR IR 1 0 INA INA INA INA —
RB Qadree
Ollison		 — 0 1 — — — — — — — — — — — —
RB Godwin Igwebuike — — INA INA INA 0 0 0 INA INA 0 0 0 0 0
WR George
Pickens		 56 46 55 58 58 53 62 58 62 53 53 49 60 54 46
WR Diontae
Johnson		 27 IR IR IR IR 39 61 57 53 50 52 44 48 50 37
WR Allen
Robinson II		 56 47 50 50 57 38 46 47 50 45 45 33 41 36 40
WR Calvin
Austin III		 35 41 45 53 37 7 18 17 13 10 18 9 20 9 11
WR Miles
Boykin		 5 4 8 6 12 0 5 6 9 6 8 12 8 4 17
WR Gunner Olszewski INA 1 INJ INA 4 — — — — — — — — — —
TE Pat
Freiermuth		 32 41 49 30 INJ IR IR IR IR 31 42 36 48 44 37
TE Darnell Washingon 24 26 29 25 46 31 10 32 33 27 37 34 30 14 29
TE Connor
Heyward		 17 10 13 15 37 51 49 40 34 8 24 19 11 16 14
TE Rodney
Williams II		 — — — — 4 11 12 3 3 0 4 5 4 2 2
LT Dan
Moore Jr.		 63 54 62 8 INJ 59 66 65 65 58 71 61 70 58 59
RT Chukwuma Okorafor 59 54 62 59 66 59 67 0 1 0 0 2 3 1 2
LG Issac
Seumalo		 63 54 62 59 66 59 67 65 65 58 71 30 70 58 59
RG James
Daniels		 63 54 62 INJ INJ 59 67 65 65 58 71 61 70 58 59
C Mason
Cole		 63 54 62 59 66 59 67 65 65 58 71 61 70 58 59
OT Broderick
Jones		 4 0 0 51 66 0 5 65 65 58 71 61 70 58 59
OT Dylan
Cook		 INA INA INA 0 0 INA INA INA INA INA INA INA INA INA INA
C/G Nate
Herbig		 0 0 0 59 66 0 0 0 0 0 0 31 0 0 0
OL Spencer Anderson 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
OL Ryan
McCollum		 — — — — 0 — — — — — — — — — —

STEELERS DEFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS

Pos Player SF CLE LV HOU BAL LAR JAX TEN GB CLE CIN ARI NE IND CIN
DT Larry
Ogunjobi		 43 51 49 46 48 49 53 50 44 53 30 56 38 38 41
DT Montravius Adams 34 52 47 41 56 46 49 2 INA INA INA INA 17 23 20
DE DeMarvin
Leal		 26 39 33 21 INJ 23 14 24 4 5 3 5 INA 9 INA
NT Keeanu
Benton		 29 28 21 29 33 19 30 48 45 39 22 25 17 33 24
DT Armon
Watts		 INA 22 18 34 18 17 28 INA 22 27 9 22 15 19 9
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk 31 14 9 13 13 0 9 14 8 18 2 20 10 INA 13
DT Cam
Heyward		 14 IR IR IR IR IR IR 41 40 46 35 50 43 50 39
NT Breiden
Fehoko		 — INA INA INA 0 INA INA INA INA — — — — — —
OLB T.J.
Watt		 48 70 59 62 60 57 56 69 66 73 39 54 52 47 45
OLB Alex
Highsmith		 49 68 52 63 61 53 63 63 63 66 40 61 17 52 47
OLB Markus
Golden		 25 19 20 13 14 14 14 11 5 8 4 9 INA 24 20
OLB Nick
Herbig		 16 17 13 4 5 12 9 7 2 3 3 12 45 11 17
OLB Kyron
Johnson		 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
ILB Cole
Holcomb		 53 78 53 63 64 56 64 16 IR IR IR IR IR IR IR
ILB Kwon
Alexander		 47 52 47 27 31 47 38 64 9 IR IR IR IR IR IR
ILB Elandon
Roberts		 29 27 17 42 29 19 31 37 65 75 43 15 46 67 17
ILB Mark
Robinson		 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 41 0 0 44 6 22 5
ILB Tariq
Carpenter		 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 — — — —
ILB Mykal
Walker		 — — — — — — — — — 63 33 65 25 32 36
ILB Blake Martinez — — — — — — — — — — — — 21 INA INA
ILB Myles
Jack		 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 47
CB Patrick
Peterson		 67 85 71 71 63 67 71 74 68 74 41 53 54 67 64
CB Levi
Wallace		 67 78 67 71 66 49 INJ 38 27 10 11 18 18 41 64
CB Joey
Porter Jr.		 7 14 27 10 28 53 59 70 68 68 43 68 57 67 64
CB James
Pierre		 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 0 0 12 0 0 INA 1 0
CB Chandon Sullivan 13 47 18 21 24 22 28 16 19 27 18 17 8 31 45
CB Darius
Rush		 — — — — — INA 0 30 INA INA 9 INA 0 INA INA
CB Desmond
King		 — — 0 0 1 — — — — — — — — — —
FS Minkah Fitzpatrick 68 46 72 71 70 68 8 INA INA INA INA 68 57 22 INJ
S Damontae
Kazee		 49 77 53 34 43 58 67 74 68 75 43 62 51 18 SUS
SS Keanu
Neal		 33 61 41 45 42 17 69 66 56 IR IR IR IR IR IR
SS Miles
Killebrew		 0 2 1 0 1 0 12 0 0 16 1 0 0 11 0
DB Elijah
Riley		 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 9 IR IR IR IR 3
SS Trenton Thompson — — — — — — — — 7 58 42 24 30 51 INJ
SS Eric
Rowe		 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 61
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