Alejandro Villanueva signs four-year extension

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN has reported that Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva has signed a four-year contract extension. Last week, Villanueva hinted that he may hold out of training camp as he looked towards a long-term deal, but he will now participate in camp as one of the key components of the Steelers offensive line.
Villanueva played 1275 snaps for the Steelers in 2016, and ended the season with a PFF overall grade of 79.3, ranking 30th of 77 qualifying offensive tackles.
He started the season poorly, and didn’t register a grade above 70.0 until week 6 of the season. However, from week 14 until the Conference Championship, he didn’t allow a single sack or hit, and recorded a pass blocking efficiency (the PFF metric that measures pressure allowed on per snap basis with weighting towards sacks) of 97.2, which ranked fifth of 34 tackles in the league. Villanueva will resume his position at left tackle on the offensive line that finished the 2016 campaign with a cumulative pass block efficiency of 83.1, the fifth highest mark among the league’s 32 teams.