LB Nick Herbig and the Steelers have agreed on a four-year, $100 million

Are you suggesting this is the end at age 31?

 

You should have stuck this in the Omar Khan complaint thread

Kind of a yin to yang

 

Actually, you did. You just didn't realize it.

 

Nope. Reread my post.

 

I read it fine the first time, so either explain why you think otherwise or play this nonsense with someone else.

 

I don't know what the def. plans are..But I really hope we attack more than not..Just live and die by the blitz.Playing safe always-- is not exciting.

 

JEH for PREZ

 

jeh

 

at this time of season

no plans are definite

 

Coaching in my esitmation was killing Watts career and of course his injuries. Different staff and a new defensive coordinator might make a difference in his play. I guess we shall see soon enough.

 

He capitalized it because it's important.

 

Has it been said

Trade Highsmith, sign porter long term, is that the play they doing here

 

No I do not believe this has been said

 

What makes you even think he is a part time player

Pro Football Focus ranked Herbig as the league's sixth best edge rusher last season among players with at least 600 snaps. PFF analytics rated him sixth in pass rush, eighth in run defense and 12th in pass coverage.

 

Uh huh

 

I believe if You just played snaps for Watt, and Highsmith when they are winded, or nicked that would put you as very close to the same amount of snaps as they get.

 

A few years ago we had a #3 who demanded a trade because he wasn’t getting enough playing time filling in for Watt and whomever was on the other side

When he left I looked it up and all 3 had almost identical number of snaps

Herbig had 93% the number of snaps Highsmith had last year

This year Herbig is not the backup Highsmith is

 

Hopefully, Graham will find a way to incorporate all three as much as possible, but that can be difficult.

Take the example of the 2021 season. The Steelers began that year with TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Melvin Ingram at outside linebacker. Ingram eventually requested and/or demanded a trade due to concerns over playing time. Some might look at their raw numbers of snaps through six games and think Ingram made no sense. At that time, Ingram had played six fewer snaps than Watt and 17 more than Highsmith. Of course, those who bring up those raw numbers without context are presenting incomplete and misleading data, possibly on purpose.

What they left out is that the numbers were skewed because Ingram played in one more game than either Watt or Highsmith. He played every defensive down for the team in a Week 3 loss to the Bengals. Watt and Highsmith did not play at all in that game. Ingram also saw his snaps decrease over the final three games in which he played for the Steelers. He had 35 snaps in a loss to the Packers and 36 in a victory over the Broncos. Then, in the game before they deactivated him, Ingram got only 17 snaps in an overtime victory over the Seahawks. Highsmith played all 65 defensive snaps in that game. Watt got 56, so if you do the math, they must have played all three together on some plays. Ingram had to see that as his playing time was dwindling drastically. I wonder if people missed all that context or left it out intentionally. (Or left their post intentionally vague by not mentioning Highsmith and Ingram by name. That would certainly fit what some posters here do.)

I doubt we will see anything like that in 2026. Watt, Highsmith, and Herbig all seem to play important roles on the Steelers. Yes, Herbig did have 610 snaps compared to 634 for Highsmith. That does seem close, but again, that is skewed by the number of games played. Herbig played in 15 games in 2025. Highsmith played in only 13. Herbig had five games last season in which he played less than 40 percent of the team's snaps. He had three more that were 52 percent or less. I have to look closer, but I think at least one of those was a game he left early due to injury, but it still shows that things will have to change significantly to keep Herbig as involved as Watt and Highsmith if all three are healthy.