{"id":862348,"date":"2026-04-09T14:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/862348\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:12:26","slug":"steelers-2026-pre-draft-moves-outside-linebacker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/862348\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers 2026 Pre-Draft Moves \u2013 Outside Linebacker"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers are most of the way through the first part of the offseason\u00a0leading up to the draft<\/a>. Before we get there, we\u2019re going to\u00a0take stock of how the roster has evolved<\/a>\u00a0over the past several weeks. Position by position, we\u2019ll break down who\u2019s coming and going and what\u2019s next for those rookies and\u00a0those already here.<\/p>\n

Position: Outside Linebacker<\/p>\n

Total Positional Figure: 6<\/p>\n

Offseason Additions: 0<\/p>\n

Offseason Deletions: 0<\/p>\n

Players Retained: <\/p>\n

T.J. Watt: The Steelers enjoyed the premiere outside linebacker in the NFL for years with T.J. Watt. He might not be quite that guy anymore, at least on a weekly basis. However, reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. There\u2019s no reason to believe he doesn\u2019t still have a 15-sack season in him, and it\u2019s not like he didn\u2019t play well last year. A punctured lung certainly didn\u2019t help things, but that is behind him now.<\/p>\n

Alex Highsmith: When the Steelers grappled with injuries at outside linebacker, Alex Highsmith stepped up. He had arguably his best season in 2025, at least in terms of play consistency, if not necessarily in impact. He did manage nearly double-digit sacks and 15 tackles for loss.<\/p>\n

Nick Herbig: With Nick Herbig entering a contract year, the Steelers have an important dilemma at outside linebacker. Do they view him as the future of the position, and what is required to make that a reality? Are they willing to part with a starter to sign him to an extension, or are they willing to lose him next year? Maybe it\u2019s worth noting that if they plan to draft a first-round quarterback in 2027, his leaving in free agency in 2027 won\u2019t help. That compensatory draft pick would be for 2028, and only theoretical until then.<\/p>\n

Jack Sawyer: If the Steelers do lose an outside linebacker, they have Jack Sawyer waiting in the wings. Drafted in the fourth round in 2025, he had his moments as a rookie, including a start in Detroit. The jury is out on his ceiling as a pass rusher, but he is, on the whole, a well-rounder player and a professional.<\/p>\n

Julius Welschof: The Steelers were granted another roster exemption for the international outside linebacker. Welschof caused a bit of a spark in the preseason in 2024, but that didn\u2019t translate last year. Still, there\u2019s no sense in not keeping him, as he doesn\u2019t affect their roster-building efforts anyway.<\/p>\n

K.J. Henry: Although the Steelers list him as a defensive lineman, Henry is an outside linebacker in their scheme. Added to the practice squad last season, he remains on the offseason roster. A 2023 fifth-round pick, he has 333 career snaps. He hasn\u2019t been a big contributor on special teams, which would be essential to sticking in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Players Added: N\/A<\/p>\n

Players Deleted: N\/A<\/p>\n

Notes And Draft Outlook:<\/p>\n

While the Steelers clearly have talent at outside linebacker, the room could change in a hurry. T.J. Watt is slowly aging out, and Nick Herbig could leave in free agency next year. Alex Highsmith, meanwhile, is an annual injury risk in spite of best efforts to avoid them.<\/p>\n

All things considered, it would be wise for the Steelers to strongly consider adding yet another outside linebacker in the draft this year. Having done so last year with Jack Sawyer, it\u2019s just too much of a premium position to pass on. Unless they trade somebody this offseason, they are clearly set for 2026. But next year could look very different, and how that looks could hinge on how the draft falls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers are most of the way through the first part of the offseason\u00a0leading up to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4955,6310,7,295,98858,33749,6,6313,520,57,2360,426,5226],"class_list":{"0":"post-862348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-alex-highsmith","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-jack-sawyer","12":"tag-julius-welschof","13":"tag-k-j-henry","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nick-herbig","16":"tag-pittsburgh","17":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","18":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","19":"tag-steelers","20":"tag-t-j-watt"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}