With the Pittsburgh Steelers defense sitting stars such as T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and Alex Highsmith throughout most, if not all of the preseason, there were other players who were under evaluation for a larger role and stepped into the spotlight.

One of those players, our preseason “MVP”, is Steelers outside lienbacker Nick Herbig. With the high-salary edge rushers being saved for the regular season, the second-year pro from Wisconsin launched into our living rooms with plays that are begging him to get more time on the field from defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.

In 5 career NFL preseason games, Nick Herbig has 4.5 sacks in 77 snaps played so far. He has at least one sack in all but one game (and he had a QB hit in that one, last week vs. HOU)

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) August 17, 2024

While Herbig was unable to bring down any of the Houston Texans quarterbacks in the initial preseason game, he was able to dart through the line of scrimmage and sack former teammate Mitchell Trubisky in the Steelers second exhibition game.

In the first offensive series for the Bills, Trubisky was introduced and took the field to the boos of Steelers fans who did not forget his time in Pittsburgh. On 3rd & 2 from the Buffalo 36, Trubisky took the snap from shotgun. Herbig, lined up at the ROLB spot, crossed behind Keeanu Benton at defensive end to shoot a wide open gap.

Trubisky, his fate sealed, had nowhere to go and the play went for a loss of ten yards.

https://twitter.com/steelers/status/1824947644231205176

A pair of big pass rushing plays were stacked back-to-back when Herbig went up against the Detroit Lions in Pittsburgh’s third and final preseason matchup. Hendon Hooker was the starting quarterback for Detroit, and he was given no quarter in the ensuing onslaught that Pittsburgh threw at him. Hooker was able to get a short pass off to Zonovan Knight, a handoff, and a short pass over the middle to Shane Zylstra.

Then, the Steelers unleashed their hounds on Hooker:

On 1st & 10 at their own 49, Hooker chose to go no-huddle and took the snap from shotgun. Herbig, who’d gotten into the Lions’ offensive backfield the play before, was able to beat a double-team to earn the first sack in the game.

On 2nd & 15, Leal and Benton strong-armed their way through the Lions line to dump Hooker for another sack and load of seven yards.

On 3rd & 22, Herbig got to Hooker’s back in a hurry, swatting the ball as he brought the quarterback down. The Steelers collapsed into the area and Dean Lowry was able to recover the fumble at the Detroit 35.

Second Rep: Cross chop into a strip-sack.

Nick Herbig is going to be much more than a DPR in year two with the #Steelers pic.twitter.com/y1UONiq8ov

— Rob Gregson (@NFL_Rob) August 26, 2024

But don’t just take our word for: the national sports media has also taken notice of Herbig’s penchant for getting after opposing quarterbacks. Pro Football Focus, a platform which grades the performance of players throughout the season, gave Herbig a 92.6 pass rush grade.

While we have to consider the level of competition in the preseason, Herbig’s 23.8% win rate would’ve been the sixth-best against the 2023 year-end rankings, with only Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett, Will Anderson, T.J. Watt, and Jadaveon Clowney ranked higher.

https://twitter.com/PFF_Steelers/status/1828057476803019056

Here’s to hoping we get to see more of Herbig’s pass rushing capabilities in the regular season. The Pittsburgh Steelers will open Week 1 on the road against Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. Cousins was sacked 46 times the last time he played a full season in 2022. Falcons quarterbacks were sacked a total of 40 times in 2023, despite featuring the mobile Desmond Ridder as their play caller last season.