Nick Herbig’s emergence is not the only reason that he has been the impetus for the Steelers’ deployment of a 3-OLB subpackage. Yes, they recognize that he’s simply too good to take off the field with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. But there’s a reason that they continued to use it last week with Highsmith out, using rookie Jack Sawyer.
“I think Nick can rush from anywhere,” DC Teryl Austin said of Herbig, via transcript from the Steelers’ media department. “If he gets the space needed, he can really be a hard block for guys inside because of his quickness.