Steelers' Teryl Austin Has Made New Packages Just To Get This Dynamic Player On The Field More

The Pittsburgh Steelers have always found a way to get to the quarterback, whether or not it was old-school football, Dick LeBeau's legendary zone blitz scheme, or just drafting TJ Watt and letting him ruin everything for the opponents. The Steelers continue to find stud pass rusher after stud pass rusher, no matter who is on the coaching staff or what era of football is happening at that moment. Sometimes, they have a surplus of great defensive players, and they have to find unique ways to get them on the field. 

The Steelers entered the 2024 season with the high-end players at edge rusher. Even though they have Watt and Alex Highsmith locked up to long-term deals, Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin still wanted to get another rising defender at that position on the field at the same time. He explained to the media why he wanted to try that.

"That’s it. It gets [Nick] Herbig on the field. That's what it does. I think that young guy, he's earned it the way he's progressed
since last year, and what he's done when he was in games last year. And so, we want to give him a better opportunity to get
out there and try to rush and get after quarterback. So, he earned it."

Nick Herbig would most likely be a starter on the other 31 teams in the NFL, but since he's on a team loaded with edge rusher talent, he doesn't get to play every snap. That's why Austin made the new three-outside-linebacker package for the 2024 season. In a limited sample size, he has proved to be yet another game-wrecker that forces the opposing offensive lines to try and play him like they would with the others. 

Despite playing just 17% of snaps in his rookie season, Herbig had three sacks, a pair of forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. His explosiveness off the snap has been a problem for offensive tackles on either side of the ball. He forces them to not take a snap off while Watt or Highsmith catch a quick breather on the sideline. That ability just makes life so much harder on the opposition.

Steelers' New Strategy Boosted Herbig's Snap Count

As opposed to the 17% snap count rate from 2023, Herbig played in 30% of the snaps in their Week 1 win. He only had one tackle in the game, but he will be expected to get plenty of chances to get to the quarterback as time goes on. Austin also spoke about his talent and why his speed and explosiveness is a key piece of his front seven.

"It’s just a different kind of rush. Guards are used to seeing bigger guys. They're used to seeing guys like Cam [Heyward] and guys that come at them with a different type of rush, but now they got a little smaller guy, maybe a little bit more wiggle, a little bit more speed. So, it's just a different thing that they would have to prepare for. And so it's just a different kind of rush."

While Herbig has potentially earned the right to be more than a change-of-pace type of rusher, his ability to explode on the inside adds an extra dimension that teams usually don't see. Instead of dealing with a bull rush or a DT stunt, these guards have to try and block Herbig like an offensive tackle would. Examples like this is part of the reason why the Steelers consistently have multiple players with double-digit sacks each season: teams never know what to expect from the stars of the defense. 

What do you think about Austin coming up with a package to get all three top edge rushers on the field at once, as well as Herbig's growth on the field? Let us know in the comments.

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