For as much time as he is spending getting himself ready for his first season as the Pittsburgh Steelers, big brother Nate Herbig can’t help but watch along and cheer on as his little brother, rookie Nick, does his thing.
The younger Herbig joined the Steelers this offseason as a fourth-round OLB out of Wisconsin, a month after Nate signed as a veteran free agent. Though head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters that he couldn’t care less about Nate’s advocation to draft Nick when the draft came along, he nevertheless has proven to be right up to this point.
During his introductory press conference, he gloated about his kid brother and how he should be in Pittsburgh as well. “I came in the building screaming it. Like, come on, let’s get him here. Nick Herbig: stud. Absolute stud. I should be his agent”.
Fortunately he didn’t have to be, and the Steelers were able to draft him in the fourth round. It’s been a steady upward climb for him since then, putting his name in the conversation at the top rotational outside linebacker, and perhaps even for situational work. Nate has been enjoying the view.
“I love watching him kill tackles”, he recently told reporters, according to Teresa Varley for the team’s website. He said during his press conference back in March that Nick was the only defender he couldn’t block. It’s been an issue for every lineman he’s gone up against this preseason and training camp as well.
Nick finished the preseason with 3.5 sacks, the second-most in the NFL, tied with Caleb Murphy of the Tennessee Titans. He also had nine total tackles with three for loss, four quarterback hits, a forced fumble, and a pass defensed.
The Steelers recognized the need for quality depth at outside linebacker after having to make do without T.J. Watt for most of the first half of the 2022 season due to injury. Malik Reed, acquired a short time before the start of the season via trade, proved to be an inadequate fill-in.
While they drafted Herbig, they also signed Markus Golden as a veteran free agent, managing to get him cheap after a season with a low sack total, as he nears the end of his career. He was more productive as a pass rusher than the statistics themselves show, however.
But Herbig looks like the future, at least behind Watt and Alex Highsmith, who figure to be here for a while. If the Steelers can have a strong number three in this rookie for years to come, then they are putting themselves in a good place, frankly a place they haven’t been in a while.
And it will be a good workout for their tackles, as well.
