For the first time in his young career, Nick Herbig won’t just be following T.J. Watt. He’ll be starting opposite of him. Learning from one of the NFL’s best for the last 18 months, Herbig gets the chance to start at linebacker with Alex Highsmith sidelined by a groin injury. On the latest edition of his weekly show via the team’s YouTube channel, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin described the relationship between Herbig and Watt, a couple of Badgers turned Steelers.
“His belief in self is at a high level,” Tomlin told host Bob Pompeani of Herbig’s confidence and success. “I mean, we’re in the NFL and these guys obviously believe in themselves. But even in a community like this, his belief in self is unshakeable. And his commitment to working and improving is probably equally as impressive.
“He’s a humble, hardworking kid. Whatever T.J. has for breakfast, he wants it for lunch. But if I was a young guy at that position, I would do similar things.”
Herbig has been glued to Watt’s hip since being drafted in 2023. In camp, the pair worked on pass rush moves before every practice and often worked after practice, joined by James Harrison on one occasion. In the offseason, the two spent time together back in Wisconsin to train and improve.
For Watt, it’s about maintaining. For Herbig, it’s about making a jump. A second-year player who flashed as a rookie, Herbig was electric filling in for Highsmith last week. He finished the game with three hurries, two sacks, and a forced fumble in a 20-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers where Pittsburgh’s defense finished with five second half sacks.
Spending time with Watt has quickly accelerated Herbig’s potential.
“He’s walking beside a blueprint of how you want to conduct yourself in that position each and every day. He’s smart enough and humble enough to recognize it and extract information from him.”
Watt’s confirmed as much, even joking about being annoyed at all the Herbig questions he received during last week’s post-game presser.
“He’s stuck to my hip. I can’t get away from him,” Watt said with a smile about Herbig in early September. “He’s been a sponge to everything.”
Despite entering this game with only 244 career defensive snaps, Herbig has five NFL sacks. His efficiency has been remarkable though Sunday’s game against the Colts will test his stamina. In his 20 career games, only once has he logged more than 20 snaps, filling in for an injured Watt in last season’s ugly loss to the New England Patriots. Herbig finished that game with 45 snaps but failed to record a QB hit or sack.
Herbig will enter the game looking for sack number six. Or maybe even seven. And Watt will enter looking to collect some history, his next sack making him the second-fastest to 100 for a career.
