The Steelers’ franchise has always been known for defense, and a young core in that tradition now has them at 7–0.

It’s one thing to make adjustments. It’s another to have the players to pull them off.

And so it was that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Kevin Butler went into Ravens week, which is always different from other weeks in Pittsburgh, looking for a wrinkle and finding one in their unit’s depth. The idea would be, naturally, to muddy what Baltimore’s reigning league MVP, Lamar Jackson, was looking at, and do it by making it tough for the quarterback to know who was coming and who was going.

Veteran edge rushers Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt would be a part of the plan, of course, but to make it work they needed a third guy who could rush and cover competently—and that’s where third-round pick Alex Highsmith, a