May 4, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
With almost 50 players set to hit free agency in 2027<\/a>, the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> have a massive number of contract decisions to make. But one defender who’s due for an extension sent a clear message to the team: he wants to be a Steeler for life.<\/p>\n On a recent episode of The Fehoko Show, Herbig’s agent, Joe DiBenedetto, provided an update on his client and made it clear he wants to be in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n \u201cI fully believe if Nick was starting full-time in this league, he\u2019d be one of the top-five edge rushers in football,” DiBenedetto said. “Opportunity is everything, right? He\u2019s learning from Alex [Highsmith] and T.J. [Watt] from Day 1. Without getting into too much of the nuances that are ongoing, Nick wants to be a Pittsburgh Steeler for life, and I hope that we can make that happen. I’m excited to see what he can do in this Mike McCarthy defense.”<\/p>\n Despite limited snap opportunities behind Highsmith and Watt, Herbig has recorded 13 sacks and seven forced fumbles since 2024. His play against the run has also steadily improved each year and figures to make a massive impact in 2026.<\/p>\n Hopefully, the Steelers<\/a> can check Herbig’s name off the extension list sooner rather than later, as there are a few more important contract decisions that demand the team’s attention.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n For up-to-date\u00a0Steelers\u00a0coverage, including any offseason moves, follow us on X\u00a0@TheSteelersWire<\/a>\u00a0and give our\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0a like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 4, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET With almost 50 players set to hit free agency in 2027, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[942,73,75,74,29044,38167,22203,543,15077,2180,2173,2533,11049,542,72380,8757,14298,544,535],"class_list":["post-184087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-accessfree","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-sstssportsnflsteelers","tag-sstsnsteelers","tag-tagalex-highsmith","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagfacebook","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagnick-herbig","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagpittsburgh-connect","tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","tag-tagsmg-timely","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}