Nick
Herbig.
Nick
Herbig.
Wisconsin· 6'2"· 240 lb· 4.65s 40
"The board discounted an elite get-off and a real hand plan because of the frame, and Pittsburgh turned the fourth-round discount into a $100 million edge rusher."Pre-draft read
Herbig is a stand-up rush linebacker who wins before contact. He aligns wide as a 9-technique, times the snap as well as anyone in his class, converts speed to a flat corner with real ankle flexion. The hands are the mechanic that make it work: a violent long-arm chop and cross-chop combination that clears the tackle's punch instead of absorbing it.
Against the run he is a spill-and-chase defender rather than a setter — he shoots gaps, plays with leverage under the pads and makes his tackles on the pursuit angle rather than at the point of attack. The athletic ceiling is quick-twitch, not overwhelming. The signature is relentlessness: he rushes the same way on rep 45 as on rep 5, and the second and third efforts show up on tape as sacks.
3-4 or multiple fronts that let him stand up as a wide-9 rush linebacker on passing downs, with a designated-rusher package in sub and a veteran edge setter beside him on base downs.
Year 1: third edge in a two-starter room, 20-25 pass-rush snaps a game plus core special teams. Ceiling: a double-digit-sack starting outside linebacker once the play strength catches up to the technique.
A four-man front that asks him to put a hand in the dirt as a base 5-technique against 330-pound tackles on first and second down, or a heavy zone-drop scheme that pulls him off the edge to cover flats.
The room matters as much as the front. He needed a defense with two established starters ahead of him so his early snaps were all rush snaps.
Nick Herbig Wisconsin Highlights
Career reel from Wisconsin: get-off, bend and hand work off the edge.
Nick Herbig 2022 Mix
Junior season tape from the 15.5 TFL, 11.0 sack year in 11 games.
Nick Herbig Highlights — Welcome to Pittsburgh
Pre-draft reel released after the Steelers selected him at pick 132.
A three-year Wisconsin edge who was the most productive pure pass rusher in the program's recent history and the smallest one on most boards. Herbig plays outside linebacker in a 3-4 front, wins with get-off, bend and hand work, and has a motor that turns broken rushes into finished ones. He is a rusher first, a chase-and-tackle run defender second, and a special-teams contributor by disposition.
The production is unambiguous. After a seven-game freshman year in the shortened 2020 season, he posted 14.5 tackles for loss and 9.0 sacks as a sophomore and then 15.5 TFL and 11.0 sacks in only 11 games as a junior, earning first-team All-Big Ten in both years and declaring early. The flag is the frame: he tested and measured in the 240-pound range and carried it on a short-armed build, which raised the question of whether he could hold up against NFL tackles on early downs or would be reduced to a designated rusher.
The board had him as a late Day 2 to early Day 3 pass-rush specialist — everyone liked the traits, most teams discounted them for size and run-down limitations. Pittsburgh took him at 132 with two established starters in front of him, which is exactly the roster where a sub-package rusher can develop without being asked to carry snaps he was not built for yet.
- 01
Get-off
Elite snap timing and first-step burst; he is out of his stance before the tackle's hands are set, which manufactures a step of advantage on every rep.
- 02
Hand technique
A real rush plan with long-arm, chop and cross-chop counters that keep his chest clean rather than letting tackles latch on.
- 03
Bend and corner
Drops his inside shoulder and flattens to the quarterback with the ankle flexibility to turn tight without losing speed.
- 04
Motor
Finishes plays away from the ball and converts second-effort rushes into production; a meaningful share of his college sacks came late in the down.
- 05
Production at scale
36.0 tackles for loss and 21.0 sacks in 31 career games, with back-to-back first-team All-Big Ten seasons as a sophomore and junior.
- 01
Play strength
Around 240 pounds with a slight build; NFL tackles who get their hands on him can stall the rush and wall him off on the edge.
- 02
Run-down role
Spills and chases rather than setting a firm edge, which limits how many early-down snaps a defense can trust him with.
- 03
Rush counters inside
Wins largely on the arc; the inside spin and long-arm bull are underdeveloped when speed is taken away by a wide set.
- 04
Coverage reps
Very limited drop experience in college and stiff in space when asked to carry a back or flat route.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.65sp50
- Vertical
- —in
- Broad jump
- —in
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 25repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Wisconsin | 7 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Wisconsin | 13 | 64 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Wisconsin | 11 | 47 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | — | 31 | 137 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Verified season by season against cfbstats.com (Wisconsin, 2020-2022). Season totals sum exactly to the career line: 137 tackles, 36.0 TFL, 21.0 sacks in 31 games. Turnover columns (INT/PD/FF/FR) were not verified line by line and are left null rather than zero-filled. Declared after his junior season; no 2023 college year exists.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A rotational 3-4 rusher who grows into a starting role and holds it with technique rather than mass.
The realized version: an undersized speed rusher whose bend and get-off produce double-digit sacks as a full-time starter.
A situational third edge who spikes for one season and otherwise lives on special teams.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Pittsburgh got value from him immediately. He played 17 games as a rookie behind T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, produced 3.0 sacks on part-time rush snaps and stood out on special teams. In 2024, with Highsmith missing time, he stepped into a larger role and finished with 5.5 sacks across 13 games. The 2025 season was the breakout: 15 games, 27 tackles, 7.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and his first career interception, all still primarily as the third man in a room with two Pro Bowl starters. Pittsburgh paid him in June 2026 with a four-year extension reported around $100 million, and he entered that season as a starter in everything but the depth-chart label.
The evaluation was right about the player and wrong about the ceiling. The size concern was real but never disqualifying, because the Steelers never asked him to be a base-down edge setter until he had added the strength to handle it. What the board underweighted was how fast a rusher with a legitimate hand plan and elite get-off can scale when he only has to win obvious passing downs early in his career. A fourth-round pick who becomes a $100 million edge rusher is the single best outcome in this range of the 2023 class.