The Pittsburgh Steelers have quietly built one of the best young edge rushers in football in Nick Herbig. Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder thinks he’s about to pass the biggest name in the room.
In its NFL 1000 scouting series, B/R graded Herbig a 73 and attached a prediction that will turn heads across the Steel City.
Holder’s bold prediction is that Herbig will be a better pass-rusher than T.J. Watt in 2026.
“Barring injury, Nick Herbig will be a better pass-rusher than T.J. Watt for the Pittsburgh Steelers this fall,” Holder wrote.
Bleacher Report Says Nick Herbig Will Out-Rush T.J. Watt in 2026
Here’s how Herbig scored across the publication’s five categories for edge rushers: pass rush (26 of 30), run defense (16 of 25), disruptiveness (15 of 20), tackling (9 of 15) and versatility (7 of 10). That pass-rush mark was among the best at the position.
Holder credited Herbig for his breakout 2025 season.
“Herbig came into his own last season, showing the ability to win with speed around the edge, working the hands and enough quickness to win across an offensive lineman’s face,” Holder added. “He can also get pressure from multiple alignments, with good bend to corner at the top of the rush and convert pressures into sacks.”
There was one clear knock against him, however.
Herbig “doesn’t make much of an impact against the run,” Holder wrote, which tracks with that middling run-defense score.
For what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus graded Herbig with a 72.7 run defense grade.
Nick Herbig’s 2025 Numbers Back Up the Bold Prediction
Here’s why the take isn’t as wild as it sounds.
Herbig already out-produced Watt as a pass-rusher last season. He posted 7.5 sacks on roughly 610 defensive snaps. Watt finished with 7.0 sacks on more than 800.
That was Watt’s lowest full-season sack total since his rookie year, a quiet campaign for a former Defensive Player of the Year who dealt with a midseason injury that cost him three games.
Herbig set career highs across the board with 7.5 sacks, 18 quarterback hits, 13 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles while leading the team in pressures.
His trajectory has pointed straight up. Herbig had three sacks as a rookie in 2023, 5.5 in 2024 and 7.5 last season, and he did most of that as a rotational piece behind Watt and Alex Highsmith.
Watt is still the player opposing offenses will likely game-plan around, and writing him off after one down season would be a mistake. But Holder laid down a marker, and the tape and the sack totals give it real merit.
Pittsburgh has already bet on the climb continuing. The Steelers signed the former fourth-round pick to a four-year, $100 million extension in June, keeping the 24-year-old in town through 2030. They didn’t hand him that money to stay a rotational piece. They paid him to become exactly the player Holder just predicted he’d be.
Expectations for the 24-year-old are reaching higher than perhaps many believed. The 2026 season is obviously not a prove-it season for him. But it will be one to watch now to see if he can live up to the expectations.
Steelers’ T.J. Watt Hit With Stunning Nick Herbig Prediction