Player: OL Nate Herbig
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: While we just talked about Nate Herbig here quite recently, the circumstances bear further discussion. After evidently seeking a second opinion on his injury, the Steelers put him on the season-ending Reserve/Injured List yesterday. An unrestricted free agent in 2025, his tenure with the team may now effectively be over in a contributing capacity.
Sometimes you don’t have control over decisions, and when it comes to sports, injuries frequently have their say. The Steelers had Nate Herbig competing with rookie Zach Frazier for the starting center job, but there is only one left standing at this point after Herbig suffered a torn rotator cuff.
The Steelers signed Herbig as an unrestricted free agent in 2023 on a two-year, $8 million contract. He did not hold a starting job but served as the primary interior reserve for all three positions. After releasing Mason Cole, the Steelers allowed him to compete for the starting center job.
And Herbig ran with the first-team offense pretty much throughout the entire offseason, legitimately vying for the job. While the Steelers drafted Frazier in the second round to play sooner rather than later, it seems they were genuinely open to Herbig opening the season as the starter until Frazier was ready.
Now they don’t have much choice when it comes to Frazier because they don’t have another viable center option. At least, they don’t have one without doing some serious juggling, and the time is short. It’s unrealistic, for example, to suddenly throw James Daniels back at center in late August after having not played the position in years and then install Spencer Anderson or Mason McCormick at right guard. But somebody will have to serve as the backup following Nate Herbig’s injury, which is a pretty important job.
By all accounts, the genial Herbig took this opportunity to compete for a starting job extremely seriously. Regardless of how badly he wanted to win it, that didn’t hold him back from coaching up the rookie. He isn’t always regarded kindly by the fans, but he is a good teammate who has suffered a major blow. This was probably his last chance to seriously compete to start, and he may have to find a new team.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
