Nick Herbig isn’t concerned with how you choose to define a “starter” and where he is one. He’s just ready to play and do what’s asked of him. Fresh off a new $100 million extension, the talk of roles is paramount in Pittsburgh’s crowded outside linebacker room. But that’s talk coming from the outside, not among the players—at least, as far as we know.
“Whatever they want, whatever they ask of me”, Herbig said, he is willing to do, via the Steelers’ website. “I’m a big team guy. I’m a Steeler, man. I bleed Black and Gold. Whatever Coach McCarthy and Patrick Graham and my coach ask of me, I’m willing to do”.
Over his first three seasons, Herbig has seen his snap share jump from 17 percent to 50 percent to 60 percent. During the 2025 season, he logged 610 snaps, a new career high, and he produced accordingly. Along with 7.5 sacks, he also registered 11 tackles for loss with 3 forced fumbles and 1 interception.
But it also helped that T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith both missed time, giving Nick Herbig the opportunity to be a starter for six games. He saw a 75-plus-percent share of the snap count in six games last season, accounting for 3.35 sacks and 6 tackles for loss.
Of course, the ideal for the Steelers is to have all of their edge rushers on the field at the same time—sometimes even literally. As in, a 3-OLB package in which Nick Herbig, T.J. Watt, and Alex Highsmith all line up. That doesn’t mean they all line up on the edge, or even rush the passer. But it gives them three premium options. And it gives the offense three big problems to worry about. As for playing time and roles and names, that’s not Herbig’s problem, either.
“I wouldn’t call myself not a starter”, he insisted. “I would just say I’m a team guy. If you need me to play off the ball, on the ball, need me to run down on punt, I’m a Steeler. There’s no starters and backups—I’m a Steeler”. When asked about how the Steelers might expand his role, Herbig replied, “I guess we’ll have to find out, huh?”
He knows, of course, the sort of things they’re planning, and Mike McCarthy has already made clear that things are not only in the works but have been in the works for months. Like, since he first accepted the Steelers’ head coach job, figuring out how to deploy Nick Herbig more has been a point of emphasis.
There comes a point in a rotation when it doesn’t really make sense to ask who is starting. Years ago, the Steelers had Arthur Moats on the field for the first snap of the game, but James Harrison would consistently out-snap him. Officially, Moats would earn the “start”, but you might not realize that if you watched the game.
I see a similar thing unfolding for the Steelers this year. Herbig should be in a heavy rotation with Watt and Highsmith, to the point that distinguishing between starters is irrelevant. That is, after all, the logical thing to do if you have three starting-caliber pass rushers.
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