In his introductory press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers guard Nate Herbig talked about how excited he was to join the team. A member of both the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets, Herbig said there isn’t anything not to like about being a Steeler.
“It’s the Steelers like, come on,” Herbig said today in his press conference which was streamed to YouTube. “What isn’t there [to like] about it? I don’t have enough good things to say. Like, guys on the team have already reached out to me.”
One of those guys who reached out to him was quarterback Kenny Pickett, who Herbig will be blocking for this season. A versatile guard who has history playing on both sides, Herbig said that fellow Stanford alum David DeCastro was one of the biggest reasons for his admiration for the Steelers.
“When I went to Stanford David DeCastro was a Steeler great, a legend. And we’ll just watch his games on Sunday in the weight room, just watch him out there just dominating. Man, it’s like how I want to play football. Like I respect it. I want to be like him.”
Herbig played at Stanford from 2016-2018. During that time, DeCastro made three Pro-Bowls and one All-Pro team (2017), helping lead a potent offense. Watching DeCastro move some of the best players in the league clearly influenced Herbig, who looks up to DeCastro and said that while he doesn’t personally know DeCastro he is a “big fan.”
Just like DeCastro, Herbig’s strength is in the run game. Our own Josh Carney did a film breakdown of Herbig’s game, and in it you just see him consistently moving people out of the way in the run game.
With Pittsburgh clearly prioritizing the rushing attack given how their season ended and the moves made so far this offseason, bringing in a guy like Herbig, who relishes getting involved in the run game, makes sense. While he likely won’t have the impact DeCastro had on the run game, if Herbig can come in and provide more consistent play than Kevin Dotson the Steelers offense has a chance to improve next season.
The plan seems to be to run the ball, so bringing in a guy who is excited to be a Steeler and looks up to DeCastro makes sense. It seems next year we will be watching a lot more smash mouth football in Pittsburgh.
