Pittsburgh Steelers OLB Nick Herbig has only started six games in his first three seasons in the NFL. But that’s to be expected on a team with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith ahead of him. Despite his limited starts, Herbig has already proven to be a force to be reckoned with on the NFL field. He already has 9.5 sacks, 12 tackles for a loss and 19 quarterback hits in his career. He’s also forced seven fumbles, recovered three fumbles and snagged his first career interception last Sunday against the New England Patriots.
How is Nick Herbig finding a way to be so impactful in limited snaps? If you ask the people around him, they’d say it’s The Herb Special. It’s a pass-rush move that Herbig has been crafting for years. And while you might think his Steelers teammate T.J. Watt is part of the genesis of the move, you’ve got the wrong Watt brother. So, who does Herbig model his signature pass rush on?
“Chandler Jones, J.J. Watt, Markus Golden,” Herbig said Wednesday on Not Just Football with Cam Heyward. “Those are three people I formed that move into.”
That’s a pretty good group of players to get some pass rush tips from. Both Chandler Jones and J.J. Watt had over 100 career sacks in their respective careers. Golden, Herbig’s teammate in Pittsburgh in 2023, had 51 sacks in his career. But all three players knew how to get after the quarterback.
If you go back and watch Chandler Jones’ film, especially from his incredible 2019 season with the Arizona Cardinals (19 sacks, 11 tackles for a loss, 26 quarterback hits), you might see a few things Nick Herbig learned. Jones loved to cut quickly across the face of the offensive tackle and burst by him to get to the quarterback.
You can see that type of idea in Herbig’s film, too. Our very own Jonathan Heitritter took a look at Herbig’s performance against the Patriots, and you’ll see Herbig cut across the face of Patriots LT Will Campbell like Jones did.
When it comes to J.J. Watt, you’ll be hard-pressed to find two pass rushers who look more dissimilar than J.J. and Nick Herbig. Watt measured in at nearly 6-6 and 288 pounds, while Herbig is 6-2 and 240 pounds. But that doesn’t mean Herbig couldn’t learn from the behemoth J.J. Watt. While Herbig may not have the ability to bull rush like Watt did, he may have learned how Watt would swat offensive linemen’s arms when he would cut inside them. That was Watt’s go-to pass rush move after he set up the bull rush.
As for Golden’s influence, that might just simply be the mentality of never giving up on a play. Just watch some of these sacks from Golden back in 2019. Hard not to see Nick Herbig just flying around, fighting and scrapping.
Now, that’s not to say that J.J. Watt’s younger brother, T.J., hasn’t had an effect on Nick Herbig. During the 2024 preseason, Herbig used a cross-chop technique that he credits T.J. for teaching him to get to the quarterback for a strip sack. But when it comes to The Herb Special and just Nick Herbig’s pass rush in general, you’ll see another Watt’s influence, along with other renowned pass rushers.
