You may not take Nate Herbig’s quest to win the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting center job seriously, but he certainly does. The sixth-year veteran is running consistently with the first-team offense, trying to fend off rookie Zach Frazier. He has never held a full-time starting job before, and he is not even a “natural” center, more a guard. But he won’t let that stop him as he pursues his dream of being an NFL starter.
“I am serious about it. I am going to [do] my best to make sure we are all on the same page, and things are running smoothly”, Herbig told Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about his competition for the starting center position.
The Steelers have lacked stability at center since Maurkice Pouncey retired after the 2020 season. They drafted Kendrick Green in the third round, allowing him to start that season, which was a mistake. A year later, they turned to Mason Cole, who started the past two seasons. Yet they released him in 2024, citing Nate Herbig as a candidate to take over.
Many thought the Steelers would draft Graham Barton in the first round in April, but they still took a center early in Zach Frazier. For the time being at least, however, he is running second-team behind Herbig, who is comfortable with the starters.
Some have suggested that the Steelers could get by for a bit with Herbig starting as Frazier matures. If he does start, however, I don’t know if it’s just a “matter of time” thing for Frazier for 2024. They already have enough changes taking place along the offensive line.
Meeting with the media Sunday morning, Herbig (Nate, not Nick as noted in the below tweet) praised Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels as one of the best guard duos and a treat to play in-between them.
A former college free agent, Nate Herbig has 30 career starts in 61 games over five seasons since 2019. The Steelers signed him last year to a two-year, $8 million contract, initially believed to be a starting guard candidate. After they quickly signed Isaac Seumalo, he was relegated to a reserve role, but is now competing at center even though he has barely played there in meaningful games.
“Even when I was younger with the Eagles, I was the backup center, and even though my primary focus was on guard, I would always take snaps every day”, Adamski quotes Herbig as saying. “I have been doing that throughout my career. So I feel very comfortable snapping the ball”.
Herbig did play a small handful of snaps at center for the Steelers in the preseason a year ago, but he has been working there all offseason this year. One would hope so if they are seriously considering him as an option to start. We already know that he is taking it seriously, but holding off the rookie Frazier will not be easy.
