With a $100 million contract on the books, one would think the Steelers want to maximize Nick Herbig’s playing ability. With 16 sacks across roughly 1,200 sacks and 9 forced fumbles, he is a playmaker. The only problem is they already have two starting edge rushers—so where do his snaps come in? Despite the new deal, that’s about his pay grade.
“I mean, that’s where the coaches come in, right?”, Nick Herbig told reporters yesterday, via the Steelers’ website, about how they can get everyone onto the field and increase his playing time. “Got to have great coaches to put us in position to make plays, and I trust they’ll do that”.
In reality, it hasn’t been that big of a problem often enough, one of the Steelers’ three outside linebackers have dealt with an injury, if not more than one. After all, then-rookie Jack Sawyer had to start last year against Detroit. With T.J. Watt already dealing with a lung injury, Herbig had to sit that game out.
But assuming full health, for which the Steelers certainly hope, how do you play three starters? Frankly, 4-3 teams seem to manage a healthy stable of pass rushers. In theory, you could have three 3-4 OLBs playing roughly 67 percent of the snaps every game. And if you add some looks with all three, you can bump that up more.
“We have been doing that”, HC Mike Mcarthy said when asked about working to play Herbig more. “It’s great to have Nick here. Nick’s excited about being here. We’ll definitely highlight the packages for Nick, both this week and next week”.
A fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Nick Herbig has made the most of his playing time. In addition to the aforementioned numbers, he also has 23 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery touchdown, and an interception. Suffice it to say he’s not likely to log 300-plus snaps on special teams again any time soon.
The Steelers have, for years, tried to run a 3-OLB package. The biggest issue with it, though, has simply been availability. As often as not, it seems, they have only had two of their three top edge rushers available at any given time. For the past three years, Nick Herbig has been a luxury, but now, he has to be just a part of the defense, with the price tag that comes with it.
In the Giants’ Super Bowl era, they also had a surplus of skilled pass rushers. In order to deploy them more, they installed what they called a “NASCAR” package, getting three of them on the field at a time. The Steelers’ look isn’t quite the same, coming from a 3-4 base. In fact, Nick Herbig is frequently playing inside at the second level in that package.
But if it becomes more of a staple, there are plenty of ways they can modify it. As Nick Herbig said, that’s where the coaches come in, and that falls to Patrick Graham to figure out.
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