Pittsburgh Steelers first-year head coach Mike McCarthy was glad to have outside linebacker Nick Herbig at the first day of mandatory minicamp on Tuesday. Now, he’s thrilled to have him locked up long term after Herbig agreed to $100 million extension hours after the Steelers’ first minicamp practice.
“I think the most important thing is, when you look at the business side of this, you pay players that obviously you feel deserve it,” McCarthy said Wednesday from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, according to video via 93.7 The Fan on X. “So, you can never have enough good football players, especially at the outside linebacker or the linebacker position. They’re all playmakers.
“So I’m thrilled to death that we have them all.”
Herbig is a great success story. He went from a fourth-round pick who felt like a major projection due to size concerns to a premium pass rusher with all the tools to be a dominant force off the edge.
Herbig showed his potential last season, racking up 7.5 sacks and 48 pressures while playing a career-high 636 snaps. He saw most of his playing time due to injuries to Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt, and when both were healthy he returned to a limited role. But the Steelers saw enough to lock him up long term, and it was the right move, even if it was expensive.
Now, the question is what happens at OLB now?
The Steelers have a lot of money committed to the position group. Watt is showing some signs of slowing down and is coming off a rough 2025 season. Highsmith has continued to struggle with injuries and has a big price tag, too. The Steelers appear fully committed to keeping all three.
“It’s a premier position in the National Football League, and we feel like we have one of the premier groups,” McCarthy said of his OLB group, according to the tweet from Adamski.
Mike McCarthy on the Steelers devoting so much resources to their edge rushers-
“It’s a premier position in the National Football League, and we feel like we have one of there premier groups.”
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) June 3, 2026
Pass rusher is a premium position in today’s NFL, and while teams might be shifting away from paying pass rushers top dollar, the Steelers are committed to it and believe they have a tremendous group to work with.
Historically, that checks out for the Steelers. They are deep and talented at the position with a three-headed monster off the edge. Second-year pro Jack Sawyer is developing nicely, too, giving the Steelers further depth at the position.
Now, it’s up to the new coaching staff under McCarthy to find ways to get Herbig on the field more in a 3-OLB package, or rotations with Watt and Highsmith, getting the most bang for their buck.
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