The Pittsburgh Steelers’ draft brought six new players into the team along with a handful of undrafted rookies. Pittsburgh’s first two picks, Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones and Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr., should make an immediate impact on the team. But which Steelers’ rookie sleeper will step up and make his mark on the 2023 season? The player with the best chance to do so is the team’s fourth-round pick out of Wisconsin, outside linebacker Nick Herbig.
OLB Nick Herbig is the Steelers’ rookie sleeper to watch in 2023
The Steelers drafted an outside linebacker from Wisconsin who slipped in the draft in 2023. If this sounds familiar, it is because this scenario has happened before.
In 2017, pass rushers like Solomon Thomas, Derek Barnett, Charles Harris, Takkarist McKinley, and Taco Charlton came off the board before the Steelers picked at No. 30. And even the edge rushers who became good to excellent NFL players (Myles Garrett, Haason Reddick, and Jonathan Allen) haven’t reached the height of the former Badger who fell to the end of the first round.
That 2017 pick was Wisconsin’s T.J. Watt.
Six years into his NFL career, Watt is a five-time Pro Bowler, three-time All-Pro, and 2021 Defensive Player of the Year. He also put up 22.5 sacks in his DPOY season, tying him with New York Giants legend Michael Strahan for the most in a single season.
At the 2023 NFL Draft, the situation wasn’t the exact same, but a Wisconsin Badger pass rusher fell from his projected slot, and the Steelers scooped him up, getting great value and a potential difference-maker in the process.
Nick Herbig is a 6-foot-2, 240-pound OLB from Hawaii who played three seasons at Wisconsin. His size makes him a little too small to be a three-down edge-setter in the NFL but his production and athleticism more than make up for that, especially with the way the league is trending in 2023.
Herbig improved each season with the Badgers, putting up 1.0 sacks and 6.0 tackles for a loss as a freshman, 9.0 sacks and 14.5 tackles for a loss as a sophomore, and 11.0 sacks and 15.5 tackles for a loss as a junior.
Draft analysts pegged Herbig as a third or early fourth-round pick, but the prospect slid to pick No. 30 in the fourth round. And, as usual, Steelers general manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin found a Steelers-type player later in the draft.
As a Steelers rookie, Nick Herbig should be able to play the role of pass-rush specialist or even develop into an off-ball linebacker with major QB pressure ability. He is an explosive athlete, has a variety of pass-rush moves, and has NFL pedigree in his family.
His brother, Nate, has started 28 NFL games at guard for the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets. And as the Steelers love to do, they signed him this offseason. So, in another similarity to T.J. Watt, Nick will play with his brother just like T.J. has for the last three seasons with his fullback brother, Derek.
The biggest reason that Nick Herbig is a potential Steelers rookie sleeper, though, is his versatility.
The Eagles recorded 70 sacks last season thanks, in large part, to the flexibility of off-ball linebacker Haason Reddick. At 6-foot-1, 235 pounds, Reddick played all over the field and rushed the passer from various locations. The way the Eagles deployed him led to 16.5 sacks from the undersized rusher.
Pittsburgh could utilize Herbig in much the same way. Watt and Alex Highsmith will be the two primary OLBs next season, with the latter coming off a career-high 14.5 sack campaign in 2022.
If the Steelers can scheme up ways to get their rookie on the field at the same time as these two and Pro Bowl defensive lineman Cameron Heyward (whose brother Conner also played for the team in 2022), the Steelers' pass rush could improve on the 40 sacks it put up last season.
And getting after the opposing quarterback is key to the Steelers' 2023 chances. The D was 10th in points allowed last season, and they need to be even better in the new campaign. This is the best way to support second-year QB Kenny Pickett as he continues to develop.
It’s unlikely that a fifth-round pick like Nick Herbig will become the NFL superstar that his fellow Wisconsin alum T.J. Watt is. But if the team uses him in the right ways, there is no reason that Herbig can’t be the Steelers’ rookie sleeper this season who contributes in a big way to the team’s 2023 quest to get back to the playoffs after a one-year absence.
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