Being named to the Pro Bowl still carries a certain prestige with it for NFL players. It means you've been recognized as one of the best at your position in your conference not just by the fans, but by the coaches and your peers.
And getting selected for the first time has even greater value.
With that in mind, let's take a look at a couple of players on the Steelers' roster who could earn Pro Bowl status for the first time in 2024, one on offense and one on defense.
Position has to be taken into account. If there are great players in the conference at your position, it makes it difficult to crack the Pro Bowl code even if you have a great season.
Alex Highsmith found that out in 2022, when he had 14.5 sacks and tied for the league lead with 5 forced fumbles but did not get the Pro Bowl nod.
But that is another thing that can happen when it comes to Pro Bowl voting. Oftentimes, players don't get elected in their breakout year. That puts them on everyone's radar, and it takes another big season to break the barrier.
That's why Highsmith is the first choice here to have a shot at making his first Pro Bowl in 2024.
Last season's outside linebacker list for the AFC was T.J. Watt and Jacksonville's Josh Allen, while Jermaine Johnson of the Jets and Cleveland's Jeremiah Owosu-Koramoah. Johnson was an injury replacement for Khalil Mack of the Chargers, while Owosu-Koramoah replaced Watt, who did not participate.
Highsmith's overall sack numbers dipped to 7 last season, but Johnson recorded 7.5 sacks, so he wasn't far off from that.
Meanwhile, even though his sack numbers were down, he still graded very well in pass-rush metrics, recording 18 quarterback hits, just two off his number from the previous season. Highsmith also had two interceptions in 2023 to go along with two forced fumbles. And he remains very good setting the edge and stopping the run.
If he can keep his turnover numbers up – something that is eye-catching – and push his sack total into double digits again in 2024, Highsmith could earn his first Pro Bowl nod. That's especially true if the Steelers defense can put together a good 2024 season as a group and the offense gives it more leads with which to play.
On the offensive side of things, tight end Pat Freiermuth could be poised for a bounce-back season, one that gets him a Pro Bowl nod.
Kansas City's Travis Kelce, Cleveland's David Njoku and Evan Engram of Jacksonville were the Pro Bowl honorees for the AFC in 2023, with Engram replacing Kelce.
While both Njoku and Engram had good seasons, neither is a household name like Kelce.
Freiermuth had a down season in 2023, largely because a hamstring injury cost him five full games.
But with improved quarterback play, a new tight-end friendly offensive scheme and, most importantly, his health, he could take a big jump in production in 2024.
After all, he topped 60 catches in each of his first two seasons, becoming only the second tight end in NFL history to do so.
Njoku made the Pro Bowl roster in 2023 with 81 receptions for 882 yards and six touchdowns. Freiermuth could approach or exceed those numbers this season.
There are others on the Steelers' roster who could be first-time Pro Bowl players in 2024. Offensive linemen Isaac Seumalo, James Daniels and Broderick Jones could easily make that list. So could wide receiver George Pickens. But they have a much-more-crowded group of players at their respective positions to leap over to get there. Defensively, the same could be said of cornerback Joey Porter Jr.
Though some make light of earning that spot because of the injury replacement factor, it's still not easy to earn that Pro Bowl trip. There are a lot of talented players in the NFL.
But this could be the season for Highsmith and Freiermuth.
• The NFL is largely on hiatus right now. In fact, late June and early July are really the only time of the year where the league doesn't dominate the landscape of the sporting world with news or events.
It's one of the reasons we love football so much as a country. It's a nearly year-round love affair.
But the news cycle never rests. Newspapers, television networks and web sites all demand content and eyes on their product, even when there is nothing really happening.
Thus, lists were born.
Over these dead weeks in the NFL news cycle, you'll see the "top 10" this or the "best of" that. And it's all been created to generate a buzz in an otherwise slow time of the year.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
One thing you do have to remember, however, is that, most of the time, those lists are created off the opinion of one person.
And because it's one person – or even a handful – creating the content, the opinion might not necessarily agree with that of the reader. In fact, that's what is hoped for.
Don't agree with this outlet or that one's list of the "Mt. Rushmore" of greatest players in a team's history? Fantastic. You'll probably repost it on your own social media and say how bad it is. And that draws more eyeballs to the piece and get them talking about it.
And that is the whole idea of it all.
This doesn't mean you can't enjoy the lists. Talk about them all you want. Just don't get angry over them.
They are someone's opinion, not based in fact.
• Everyone who watched him play last season saw that Porter was doing special things on the football field as a rookie.
What we didn't know was that he was doing something historically great.
Per Steelers Wire, Porter's 27 completions allowed in 2023 per Pro Football Focus were the fewest allowed by a rookie cornerback who played at least 800 defensive snaps over the past decade.
Better than Sauce Gardner (33 completions allowed), Marshon Lattimore (36), Devon Witherspoon (39) Jaylon Johnson (41), Patrick Surtain II (49), Jaire Alexander (51) and Jalen Ramsey (54).
Witherspoon's inclusion in that group is interesting.
Critics of Porter pointed to the fact he was a starter over the Steelers' final 11 games, glossing over the other fact that he played in all 17 of the team's games and was on the field for 807 defensive snaps, which was 72 percent of the team's plays.
Witherspoon, meanwhile, appeared in 14 games, making 13 starts. He appeared in 893 defensive snaps for the Seahawks.
They both had one interception. Witherspoon had 16 pass breakups, while Porter had 11.
But Witherspoon was targeted in coverage 84 times according to Pro Football Reference. Porter was targeted 63 times. So Witherspoon had more opportunities to break up passes.
Porter's 27 completions allowed came on 57 targets, a completion percentage of 47.4 that was the lowest in the NFL for players who played at least half of their team's defensive snaps.
Witherspoon allowed a completion percentage of 57.4 percent, which also was excellent, but pales in comparison to what Porter did.
And Porter did what he did while covering the opposing team's top receiver the majority of the time. Witherspoon played only on his side of the field.
Yet somehow, Witherspoon got 57 points in NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting and Porter got 6.
Both are great young players. Both have excellent futures.
But what Porter did last season was much, much more difficult.
• If you're still questioning the Russell Wilson-Arthur Smith pairing the Steelers have added this season at quarterback and offensive coordinator, realize that in Tennessee in 2020, the Titans used play-action 34.4 percent of the time when they threw the ball. That was the highest percentage in the NFL.
Since 2016, according to NextGen Stats, Wilson has posted a 109.7 passer rating when utilizing play-action.
In 2023, a season in which he was eventually benched in Denver because of a contract issue, Wilson posted a 115.2 passer rating when utilizing play-action, throwing nine touchdown passes and one interception in 93 pass attempts.
The Steelers as a team last year attempted just 66 play-action passes. The Falcons, Smith's team last season, ran play-action 133 times.
And the Falcons had the lowest percentage of passing plays in the NFL last season.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
• Since 2020, the Steelers have been the best come-from-behind team in the NFL. And it's not particularly close.
Per Warren Sharp, the Steelers have won 15 games in which they trailed entering the fourth quarter. The next-closest team to that is Kansas City with 10 wins.
Looking elsewhere in the AFC North, Cincinnati and Baltimore are tied fifth with six come-from-behind wins each. Cleveland has five such wins.
And remember, the Steelers only had Ben Roethlisberger, one of the best comeback quarterbacks in league history for two of those seasons. The others were quarterbacked by the likes of Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph.
Wilson, by the way, is tied with John Elway for ninth on the league's all-time list for fourth quarter comebacks with 31. That's also second-most among active quarterbacks behind only Matthew Stafford (35).
