Film Room: Steelers EDGE Nick Herbig ASCENDING in Year Two

what's going on everybody wanted to hop on here today talk a little bit about secondy year Edge R nick herbig uh couple dozen snaps so far with the first team defense in the preseason but I really liked what I've seen uh so I wanted to show a couple examples to talk through you know why I'm so excited about him as a a developmental piece uh in the Steelers defense uh just before we get started if y'all could just make sure you like the video subscribe drop me a comment all that stuff is greatly appreciated on my end and as always if you want even more of my content consider becoming a member to the channel lots of cool stuff coming there this season so let's jump right into it so this is the first play of the game against the Texans in week one of the preseason Steelers just coming out in their base three4 defense the Texans are going to be running outside Zone lead to herig side I wanted to show this angle for a very specific reason you know with Marcus golden kind of just randomly you know deciding to retire a week after he was signed um you know it's going to be important for herbick as the third Edge like if he is called upon to play a significant number of snaps he's gonna have to be more than just a pass rusher he's gonna have to defend the run I love this right here because he's getting this outside Zone to his side he's the force player the seap player um on this run I just love how he attacks this block with physicality you see the heavy hands and taking back space um and then he forces the ball back inside you know to the rest of his help um so that's an excellent rep right there so the Texans have already ran at herig once uh in this quarter unsuccessfully now they're going to try to fake run to the other direction and then bootleg to his side um these play action bootlegs a very heavy staple of all these Shanahan or Shanahan adjacent systems it's where the a lot of their explosives come from and the best way to stop that is to put athletic players out there on the edge with speed um to not allow the quarterback you know outside of the pocket to where he's going to have free reign to kind of push the ball down the field as that defense gets stretched horizontally and vertically and I think with herbick here one of the things that just really like pops when you watch him is just his closing speed we'll talk a little bit about that you know later in the video as well but you know the way that he moves for a player that's his size and plays at his position is very different and it's something that you know when I was in the tro you know kind of watching practice and everything like it was really really evident just how explosive he is he can get a to B uh really in the blink of an eye you know we we saw herbick have a ton of success last year in the preseason as a rookie uh mainly winning with speed you know he dominated pretty much all the tackles that he went up against wanted to kind of show this is an example of you know kind of where I think his pass rush kind of repertoire is you know heading I think that there are you know signs that he's starting to pick things up mentally in terms of how uh offensive tackles are setting him you know if you watch him come off the ball right here you see like he's always going to be a guy that's really fast out of his stance and that's cuz he just rolls off that front foot pretty effortlessly and his speed is always going to get these offensive tackles especially the ones that are you know not necessarily starting caliber to turn their shoulders pretty early and that's going to put them in compromising positions like this you see this tackle starts lunging because he's so worried about herbig you know winning on the outside track because he's got that speed he can bend he can cross chop all that stuff so now it's like finding counters to kind of uh work off of that speed and I think that heric mentally starting to figure out like okay this dude clearly got his shoulders turned towards the sideline I need to go to an inside counter it's just a little bit too slow right now and I think that you know that's just him trying to uh try new things in the preseason but also like get a better feel for how to sequence those moves together we've seen him work a little bit of this inside spin move through training camp in Latrobe I'm interest to see if maybe that's something he turns to as an inside counter especially knowing that Alex houth is a guy that uses that quite a bit and even this right here like it is a little bit slow but st's anticipation as a passer kind of gets this ball out pretty quick and you know there was a lot to like about her's performance against the bills uh here another example of them being in their Bas 34 defense you know sometimes as a 34 outside linebacker you're going to have to become you know detached from the line of scrimmage even as an edge rusher this is something that the Steelers do ask you know TJ wat Alex houth to do a little bit um both of them are pretty good at it I think Alex houth is one of the more underrated uh coverage guys at the edge position TJ wide had that awesome interception against the Rams last year too so this is something I think is in hering's bag you know at Wisconsin they asked him to carry out a number of different um coverage responsibilities I really like this rep right here they're just playing uh what looks like cover six to me so quarter quarter half like right here he's going to get an aggressive reroute Force this number two wide receiver to work through his body kind of throws him off balance a little bit and then he immediately gets his eyes to the flat right here and then again you show it just shows like his comfortability I feel like in space to make a good tackle right there it's a negligible gain of like three yards it's an unsuccessful play for the offense and again if he's going to play significant snaps for this defense you know due to injury or even just as a third Edge rusher um you know I think that this is something he's going to be able to like need to do consistently and I have no worries about him you know operating in space and coverage so that's always a good thing you know my good buddy Cody Alexander from match quarters kind of caused these obvious passing situations where you're aligning five or six guys up at the line of scrimmage he calls this like ex's on a whiteboard um and this is a good you know situation where I feel like they can get Nick hering on the field even with Alex houth TJ watt back in the lineup because I think he can do stuff like this like you can do creative stuff with him run stunts twists he can Rush from different alignments right here he's aligned as a wide nine to the right side they're going to be running uh a Sim pressure right here but this is just basically a te stunt they're going to have Keanu Benton come off the ball really exposive he's going to try to engage the left guard on his outside shoulder to kind of occupy him they're going to Loop herig in to the a gap from from a wide n technique now if you're going to do this especially from that alignment pre- snap dudes got to be really explosive uh and herbick definitely checks that box you can see like just the speed that he's able to pick up right here and then the bend and then his lower body flexibility even though this guard gets a hand on him it almost looks like it propels him forward and he's able to keep that momentum and then again that's just another example right there of that closing speed but I just feel like you know with all of the capable rushers that they've got like even the guys on the field right now Patrick Queen pton Wilson good rusher ke Benton I think's ready to take another step but you know obviously we know what TJ wat Alex hman bring to the table but I feel like Nick herig is a guy on third Downs where I want to see some Three Edge sets I want to see them get really creative with some stunt some twist because I think he's just he's so explosive of an athlete that I think that you know it's going to be tough to keep him off the field so right here he's uh in a wide n technique to the right side of the screen again the bills are being smart they're putting a tight end over there to kind of widen his path a little bit now when I seen this rush for the first time I was pretty intrigued because I'm not really sure that I've seen him generate this much push with like a speed to power move so like I said earlier with the inside track stuff herig is always going to be a guy that's going to be able to win on the outside track like we know his speed is going to threaten tackles right here you can see this tackle he's actually crossing over his feet which is a big no no so he's in bad position right here already but hering recognizes that and plants that inside foot look at the hand placement got him in tight then he's able to push this guy back pretty easily man like that's a to me when I saw him in training camp like just seeing him in one-on ones and you know backs on backers he looks a little bit bigger to me a little bit stronger um now I don't think that he's ever going to win like as a speed to power guy or a bull rush guy consistently but if you can at least do it every now and then as a change up I think that that's really really valuable because you know guys are guys like him speed rushers guys that can be the Looper on stunts there's value in that like teams will pay you good money for that you think about like Assan reick Bryce Huff all that stuff but if you want to be like a legitimate starting Edge rusher somebody that's going to play the majority of the snaps you got to do stuff like we mentioned early in the video you got to be able to cover got to be able to play The Run and then he's going to have to develop some type of counter whether that's you know speed to power some type of inside counter for whenever you know offensive tackles are just selling out to get to that speed and I think from a mental perspective you're starting to see him try some of these other things in preseason which is this is the time to try so I'm really encouraged by that and then this was the second sack of the day on Mitch uh again a line pretty wide to the right side of the field this is just a hustle sack but I also like wanted to point out just the hands at the top of the rush that is one thing that I think herbick does pretty well despite not uh having like really any length at all for the position like I do think that one of the things on his college take that really popped out to me was when he would get locked up and these kind of close engagements he would work pretty hard to try to get you know guys hands off of him and then of course you see the bend the lower body flexibility the ankle flexion to kind of turn those corners and then from here it's just about playing through the whistle I mean these are this is like really the standard for Steelers defenses this has been the case really long before any of the guys that are here now um but you look at like guys like cam Hayward TJ wat those guys are always playing with a really high motor herbick already has that in him you see that you saw that last year the preseason um but you know there are benefits even though like he there's not really a path for him to get starting snaps there are benefits to playing on a really talented front like this with a lot of talented pass rushers uh because going to create one-on-one opportunities but they're also going to create opportunities like this where you know if you play with a hot motor there's a really good floor uh for you as a pass rusher and I think that that's definitely something that's going to work in hering's favor as he continues to develop that's pretty much it for me shorter film room today just a small sample size but herbick I feel like has already kind of confirmed the belief I had earlier this off season that I think he's ready to take on that top backup role even you know with Marcus golden coming back and then leaving again I think he's ready to take on more snaps you know the the first step still electric as ever but I think the added play strength you know to hold up as a run defender in particular is something that I'm really hoping has real staying power cuz you know even as a edge three I feel like they got to find ways to get him on the field as a rusher I feel like he's way too explosive not to have you know certain packages in your game plan in third and long situations I do think it's cool that you know ta Terrell Austin's already designing certain twist and um rushes for him in the preseason I think that's encouraging mentally things seem to be be slowing down a little bit for him just want to see him continue to find that you know counter move that he trusts that he can go to uh when tackles start to overset a little bit all those things are going to Define you know whether or not he's a career-long designated pass rusher or death piece type or if he's like a legitimate starter down the road whether that's you know in Pittsburgh or elsewhere but I really enjoy watching him play so I was excited to talk about him today so um as always appreciate you all watching let me know what yall think of herig you think he's legit What type of 2024 season do you think he um has in his future and I will catch you guys later this week peace and love