Call him Mr. August.
Nick Herbig’s skills, though, by all accounts, translate to when the football really matters.
After a sack-and-a-half during Saturday night’s preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills, Herbig is up to five sacks in five August NFL games.
Of course, that calendar identifier signifies that his production has come during the preseason. Still, as Herbig’s three sacks (including a strip sack) among a mere 81 pass rush snaps during his 2023 rookie regular season prove, his game also plays in the fall and winter months.
“When the lights come on,” Herbig said after Saturday’s game, “you’ve got to show up. You’ve just got to stay ready so you don’t got to get ready.”
Herbig was speaking in reference to his ability to handle the role as the Steelers’ No. 3 outside linebacker this season, a gig he reclaimed after Markus Golden’s sudden retirement Aug. 9. A fourth-round pick last year, Herbig consistently has popped in training-camp practices last year and this year, and his career preseason performance speaks for itself (Pro Football Focus graded him the NFL’s best edge defender during the 2023 preseason).
Herbig believes that as he preps to serve as the primary reserve for the stellar starting duo of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, he’s a better player in 2024 than he was as a rookie.
“I think just recognizing alignments and pre-snap things, stuff I wasn’t keen to last year,” Herbig said. “And I think that’s coaching and being around guys like T.J. and Alex and seeing how they go about their business and just trying to take mental notes of that.”
On multiple occasions during camp at Saint Vincent, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin gushed over expectations for Herbig in Year 2.
“I think Herbig is making the jump,” Austin said. “He’s taking that second-year leap. He has a lot of stuff to learn, but he’s ultra-competitive and he’s got upside.”
HERBO‼️
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— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 17, 2024
The Steelers were fortunate in 2023 that Highsmith and Watt played in all 17 regular-season games. But Watt missing the wild-card playoff loss in Buffalo because of a knee injury underscores how important it is to have quality depth at such an important position.
Highsmith has missed the past two weeks of practice and both preseason games because of a groin injury.
But if Herbig had anyone’s injury in mind during his stellar first quarter (both his sacks came within Bills QB Mitch Trubisky’s first six dropbacks), it wasn’t necessarily Highsmith. It was Big Bro.
Nate Herbig, the Steelers veteran interior offensive lineman, suffered a shoulder injury last week during the final camp practice. Though the team is seeking a second opinion, it is feared the injury will lead to a lengthy absence.
Like most brothers, the Herbigs are close. They have been since growing up on the Hawaiian islands.
“Anytime I get a chance to strap the helmet up, I feel like I have the whole state of Hawai’i on my back,” Nick Herbig said, “like from my brother to my parents, my grandparents, everybody that raised me and made me who I am, brought me up in this life. I feel like I just have that whole community on my back. I’m really going out there for a bigger purpose.”
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.