Nick Herbig Has Impressive Week at Steelers OTAs

The Pittsburgh Steelers rookie linebacker has turned some heads at practice.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers' rookie class has impressed early at OTAs, and another name has added himself to the list of performers early in the summer. 

Fourth-round pick Nick Herbig hasn't taken much time to catch on with the defense. The outside linebacker knew T.J. Watt before he arrived, and met Alex Highsmith before coming to Pittsburgh, and has put all of their help into a basket and ran with it through three weeks of practice. 

"He's been great so far," Highsmith told All Steelers. "He's a hardworking guy. Just excited for the value he's going to add to our defense, our outside linebacker room. He's out here rushing hard and learning rushes consistently, so he's going to bring juice."  

Herbig's focus is on making plays, and he told All Steelers he doesn't keep track of how many he does make in a given day. During the third week of the team's OTAs, though, he had a "few." 

His focus at this stage is to learn. He has three veterans around him, plenty of NFL coaches, and guidance from any direction he needs it. So, as he's making plays on the field, he's looking at the veterans to make those plays bigger. 

"Just being around guys like T.J. and Highsmith, even MG [Markus Golden], there's a few guys right there that are proven in this league. The vets. They're a force to be wrecking with," Herbig said. "Just being around guys like that and learn as much knowledge as I can as far as pass rush reminds, just the way they go about their day too. That's big time for me."

Without pads on, outside linebackers can only do so much, but his veteran leaders in Watt and Highsmith are assuring he learns the ropes as quickly as possible. 

And at this rate, he looks like another rookie who's going to make plays for the Steelers this season. 

"Coming in as a rookie, I just tell him to take advantage of everything that you get," Highsmith said. "All the reps, everything. I was a COVID guy, so I didn't have any of this. So really, just coming in and work. Put your head down and work."

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