With Nick Herbig coming back and Preston Smith just brought in, the Steelers are in a better place than most teams after losing a starting edge rusher like Alex Highsmith. There is never a good time for a quality starter to miss games due to injury, but that’s why you build depth. Given the novelties of the situation, it’s unclear exactly what the Steelers’ plans are, though. And DC Teryl Austin isn’t about to just tell us.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Austin fielded a question about how the Steelers might deploy Nick Herbig and Preston Smith in replacing Alex Highsmith versus the Baltimore Ravens. “You’ll have to come in Sunday and see how it works out”, he shot back, via transcript.
Highsmith has been dogged by nagging injuries throughout the season. The Steelers will likely be without him for a couple games after suffering an ankle injury on a pressure late in the Steelers’ win over the Washington Commanders last Sunday. Smith finished the game, and Herbig is set to return from injury just this week.
The Steelers selected Nick Herbig in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He provided a spark off the bench last season when given limited opportunities and has continued that this year. Before going down with an injury in Week 5, he had recorded 2.5 sacks in 142 snaps. He also had a forced fumble, recovery, and two tackles for loss.
As for Preston Smith, the Steelers just acquired him via trade. Now in his 10th NFL season, he requested a trade because the Packers switched schemes on him. With the Steelers, he gets to play in a 3-4 again, and he looked comfortable last Sunday. Now they have to figure out how to juggle the two. It’s a good problem to have under the circumstances of Highsmith’s injury.
“Our scheme and our thing is pretty flexible, and the guys that we bring in here, we think they fit what we do”, Austin said of Herbig and Smith. “We’re just going to move forward with how we play and how we plan and prepare and do all those things. We’re not going to change a whole bunch, I don’t think, in terms of saying, ‘Hey, we can only do this with Nick [Herbig], and we can only do this with Preston [Smith]’”.
Herbig is on the smaller side but with good athletic traits while Smith is a bigger body. One might conclude that the Steelers would prefer Smith on run downs and Herbig in obvious passing situations. They may work it out that way, but it might not be for such a simple reason.
After all, Herbig has sat out the past five weeks (and four games), so he probably isn’t ready for 60-plus snaps. Preston Smith has been starting all season, even if rotationally, without even a bye week. The Steelers also have Jeremiah Moon among their pass rushers, and he will surely take up some snaps as well. But they still wish they had Alex Highsmith out there, as he was hitting his stride after his own injuries.
