Pittsburgh Steelers OL Nate Herbig looks to have the inside track on the backup center job, but he’ll miss his second straight preseason game with an injury. Joe Rutter of Trib Live reported pregame that Herbig wasn’t working with the center’s pregame and it “looks like he won’t go in the finale.”
Herbig doesn’t have a lot of center experience, so not getting snaps in during live game settings is going to hurt his chances of holding the backup job. He played nine snaps at center in the team’s preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but suffered an injury in practice and has missed the last two games.
While Mike Tomlin said he’s comfortable playing a center who hasn’t gotten preseason reps, it throws a cloud over what’s been a mess of a backup-center situation in Pittsburgh. Kendrick Green has had a variety of issues, both when it comes to blocking and snapping and Ryan McCollum hasn’t stood out. Rookie Spencer Anderson got five snaps at center against Buffalo, but his experience level might limit him from being a true backup center, especially since he has versatility to play all over the line.
With cutdown day coming on Tuesday, it’s going to be interesting to see how Pittsburgh handles the situation. The team’s best course of action for now might be going outside the organization for a backup center, and we’ll see at 7:30 tonight how the center snaps are divided behind starter Mason Cole.
