![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/08\/Nick-Herbig-1024x683.jpg\")
Herbig\u2019s raw counting stats are good, but not eye-popping compared to some of the NFL\u2019s absolute best pass rushers. But what he lacks in volume, he more than makes up for in efficiency. Over the past two seasons in particular, Nick Herbig has been one of the NFL\u2019s most efficient pass rushers on a snap-to-snap basis. Through the first eight weeks of 2025, Herbig led the NFL in pass rush win rate<\/a>, and it wasn\u2019t particularly close. He wins more often and gets pressure faster on a per-snap basis than anybody in the league. There are some factors to take into consideration, though, as he\u2019s not double-teamed or chipped anywhere near as often as the top guys in the league like Myles Garrett or Micah Parsons.<\/p>\n This is where his film comes in, and Herbig absolutely pops on tape. His patented cross-chop move<\/a> has been nearly impossible to contain this season, and combined with his blazing speed off the corner, you have someone who\u2019s truly been a nightmare to deal with for left tackles. The Steelers as a team are a better pass-rushing unit when he\u2019s on the field versus when he isn\u2019t on the field. In games where Herbig has primarily sat in against the Jets, Bengals, Packers, and Bills, the Steelers have given up an average of 31.5\u00a0points<\/a> per game.<\/p>\n As good as Herbig has been in his limited snaps, there is also a reason that he isn\u2019t an every-down player for the Steelers<\/a> defense yet, and it goes beyond playing with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. Herbig doesn\u2019t have the same raw power that those guys have, especially in the run game, which has reared its ugly head in certain matchups in the past couple of years. The biggest example of that was in the Wild Card game against Baltimore last season, where Herbig played only 17 snaps<\/a> because of his weaknesses in stopping the run.<\/p>\n Another point against Nick Herbig is the talent he has around him. He\u2019s playing next to two future Hall of Famers in Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt<\/a> on almost every snap, meaning he\u2019s not facing chips or double teams all that often. Perhaps that\u2019ll change soon once Herbig enters his prime. As of now, while Herbig is certainly taking advantage of his one-on-one opportunities, if he were truly as great as his advanced numbers suggest, he wouldn\u2019t be getting that many one-on-ones in the first place. He doesn\u2019t have the same level of defensive responsibility as guys like Jared Verse or Will Anderson Jr.<\/a>, and especially not the same level as guys like Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons, or even his teammate, T.J. Watt.<\/p>\n Nick Herbig is certainly a good football player and a great pass rusher already, but he\u2019s still a year or two away from entering into elite discussions. If he were starting on another team, while yes, he\u2019d be getting a lot more opportunities, his efficiency would undoubtedly go down. If Herbig can get stronger and add some more versatility to his pass-rushing repertoire, like some speed to power moves, he could be special very soon. As is, he\u2019s the best replacement edge rusher in the league by a landslide, and I envision many Pro Bowls in his future.<\/p>\n Main Image: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A look at what Nick Herbig has done this season ad if he should be getting more recognition as one of the best young pass rushers in the NFL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5714,"featured_media":257907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9880],"class_list":["post-257813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-steelers","tag-nick-herbig"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5714"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257813"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257908,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257813\/revisions\/257908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Case Against Herbig<\/h2>\n
The Verdict<\/h2>\n