In the spirit of the countdown, we at Steelers Wire will take a look at the history of the No. 56 jersey and analyze which player wore it best.<\/p>\n
Steelers current No. 56: OLB Alex Highsmith<\/p>\n
Outside linebacker Alex Highsmith is the current No. 56 wearer on the Steelers’ roster. He remains one of the league’s more underrated edge rushers and forms a terrifying trio alongside Nick Herbig and T.J. Watt.<\/p>\n
Last 5 Steelers to wear No. 56Alex Highsmith, 2020-2026Anthony Chickillo, 2015-2019LaMarr Woodley, 2007-2013Chukk Okobi, 2001-2006Mike Vrabel, 1998-2000Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a> There have been plenty of all-time great No. 56 wearers in Steelers history, such as honorable mention and two-time Super Bowl champion Robin Cole. But the greatest to ever don No. 56 is outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley.<\/p>\n Drafted by Pittsburgh with the 46th overall pick in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft, Woodley played in 94 games over seven seasons with the Steelers from 2007 to 2013.<\/p>\n Woodley helped lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl XLIII victory while also earning Second-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors in 2009.<\/p>\n Woodley\u2019s impressive 57 career sacks with the Steelers rank ninth in team history, and it is this standout consistency that is why he is the greatest Steeler to ever wear No. 56.<\/p>\n For up-to-date\u00a0Steelers\u00a0coverage, including any offseason moves, follow us on X\u00a0@TheSteelersWire<\/a>\u00a0and give our\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0a like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 19, 2026, 4:30 a.m. ET The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ countdown to kickoff is full steam ahead for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95878,7,6,119737,96718,96719,108890,95882,96853,95896,95888,95895,98490,95906,118065,96720,96295,95883,95881],"class_list":["post-949631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-accessfree","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-sourcesteelers-wire","tag-sstssportsnflsteelers","tag-sstsnsteelers","tag-tagalex-highsmith","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagmike-vrabel","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagnick-herbig","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagpittsburgh-connect","tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","tag-tagsports-fan-gear-apparel","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116945875351772958","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949631","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=949631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/90971953007-usatsi-24943955.jpg\")
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