The Pittsburgh Steelers had a humiliation of riches at move rusher in 2024, and so they solely bought deeper with fourth-round rookie Jack Sawyer. The highest backup will proceed to be Nick Herbig, which is a good scenario for Pittsburgh. In response to The thirty third Staff’s Steve Palazzolo, he’s not solely the most effective backup within the league, however would probably begin on many groups within the league.
“Nick Herbig is edge rusher one for lots of groups across the NFL and he’s EDGE3,” Palazzolo mentioned by way of Verify The Mic on YouTube.
There are many groups that battle to subject a strong tandem of move rushers, not to mention the three or 4 that Pittsburgh now has. They usually’ve managed to do it with one first-round choose in 2017, a third-round choose in 2020, and a pair of fourth-round picks over the previous few drafts.
If not for T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith forward of him, Herbig would possibly already be a strong—even perhaps nice—beginning outdoors linebacker.
He’s been nothing wanting glorious within the restricted alternatives he’s acquired over his first two NFL seasons. Showing in 30 video games with simply 5 begins and 606 defensive snaps, Herbig has 8.5 sacks, six compelled fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and 10 tackles for loss. He has a Watt-like knack for making massive performs. It’s most likely no shock that Watt has been his greatest mentor and exercise accomplice within the offseason since coming into the league.
His 606 snaps throughout two seasons aren’t even a full season’s value of snaps for what a starter would obtain. And his stat line in these 606 snaps can be worthy of Professional Bowl consideration.
The one query with Herbig is how the remainder of his early-career arc will play out. If he’s enjoying loads, then Watt or Highsmith bought injured. And with Watt’s new extension, he and Highsmith are locked in because the Steelers’ high two outdoors linebackers till not less than 2028 when Highsmith is scheduled to develop into a free agent. Herbig’s rookie deal will likely be up after the 2026 season. The Steelers may doubtlessly prolong Herbig subsequent offseason, nevertheless it’s laborious to find out his worth and whether or not that might be value it for a backup for a pair extra seasons. And Sawyer may make that call much more troublesome if he proves something between every now and then.
For now, the Steelers can take pleasure in the advantages of a deep and gifted group of move rushers. They’ll fear about what to do with their unimaginable depth later.
