The Pittsburgh Steelers' 2023 draft class was one of the best of that year. Even though first-round pick Broderick Jones hasn't worked out, general manager Omar Khan hit on his next four picks with cornerback Joey Porter Jr., defensive tackle Keeanu Benton, and tight end Darnell Washington all turning into solid contributors. But it is fourth-round pick Nick Herbig who may be the biggest star of the bunch.
With a contract year in 2026 rapidly approaching, Khan must decide if extending Herbig is the right move after already paying T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. By all accounts, the answer should be yes.
Nick Herbig is about to receive a big payday from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and for good reason
Nick Herbig's impact
Herbig has struggled to get on the field at times. He's a bit buried on a depth chart that includes future Hall of Famer T.J. Watt and star Alex Highsmith. Former head coach Mike Tomlin didn't rotate his defensive line as much as other defensive minds, and so Herbig's snap counts haven't been what most might think they should be, given his rate of production.
This past season, Herbig finally broke through. Moving from 191 snaps in 2023 to 416 in 2024 before hitting a high-water mark last year of 610. His pressure rate has similarly grown each year. In 2023, it was 10.8%. In 2024, it grew to 11.9%. Last year, it hit 13.3%.
Herbig was one of the most efficient pass rushers of 2025. His 16.9% pass rush win rate was 10th amongst all edge rushers per Pro Football Focus. And that should help him cash in even when his more traditional volume stats may not paint the picture of someone about to get the bag,
Herbig's value
Looking through recent edge rusher contracts, there is an excellent comp from just last year that acts as a floor for a potential Herbig extension. Josh Sweat's 2024 production looks eerily similar to Herbig's 2025 outputs.*
Player | G | Sacks | Sacks/G | Press/G | Pressure Rate | TFL | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nick Herbig 2025 | 15 | 8 | 0.53 | 3.13 | 13.3% | 5 | 2 |
Josh Sweat 2024 | 16 | 8 | 0.50 | 3.38 | 13.2% | 1 | 0 |
*All stats compiled from Pro Football Focus
A couple of key differences work in Herbig's favor. He's 3.5 years younger than Sweat was at the time of his deal and had better splash play production (tackles for loss and forced fumbles) than Sweat did in his platform year. As such, Herbig should be able to argue for increases in his APY to account for those differences. Sweat's $19.1 million APY was 6.84% of the 2025 salary cap of $279.2 million. At 0.25% per year of age difference, plus another 0.25% for the playmaking offset, would have Herbig asking for $23.5 - $24.0 million per year if he just used Sweat as his comp.
2026 contracts that impact Herbig's value
Odafe Oweh, Boye Mafe, and Jaelan Phillips all signed significant deals this offseason. And Herbig's representation no doubt paid attention to those contracts. When stacked against those players, he comes out looking like a rock star. Zooming out to a two-year window of 2024 - 2025 to allow for a larger sample size, here is how the young pass rusher measures up against his contemporaries.
Player | G | Sacks | Sacks/G | Press/G | Pressure Rate | TFL | FF | Age | Draft Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nick Herbig | 28 | 15 | 0.54 | 2.61 | 12.8% | 7 | 6 | 24.8 | 4 |
Jaelan Phillips | 21 | 6 | 0.29 | 3.81 | 16.7% | 1 | 0 | 27.3 | 1 |
Odafe Oweh | 34 | 18 | 0.53 | 2.79 | 11.8% | 2 | 0 | 27.7 | 1 |
Boye Mafe | 32 | 8 | 0.25 | 2.72 | 12.7% | 4 | 2 | 27.8 | 2 |
Herbig looks better than the rest of the group in sacks, sacks/game, TFL's, FF's, and age, while ranking second in pressure rate. Phillips signed for $30 million per year. Mafe got $20 million per annum. And Oweh split the middle at $25 million/year.
If I were Herbig's camp, I would be anchoring my offer to the Steelers on Oweh, citing similar sacks and pressures/game despite playing 25% less snaps, a better pressure rate, better tackle for loss and forced fumble numbers, while being nearly three years younger. That gives them a strong case to clear Oweh's APY.
Herbig has additional ammunition to help bolster his extension value. If he waits until next year, the Steelers may have to use the franchise tag to keep him from getting to the open market. Herbig is listed as a linebacker on the team's official site. This year's franchise tag for linebackers is just south of $29 million. Next year's is likely to be more.
If the Steelers were to get Herbig to commit to a four-year, $110 million deal at $27.5 million per year, they would be getting a discount versus a path where the franchise tag is used. The total deal would be for five years and $113,674,000 with an effective APY of $22,734,800.This would make Herbig the 12th-highest paid edge rusher in the NFL.
It would also bring up some serious questions about the futures of Watt and, especially, Highsmith. One of them would likely be out the door soon after, if not both, given Watt's age and declining production.