Omar Khan kicked off minicamp by opening his checkbook as the Steelers re-signed Nick Herbig to a 4-year contract extension worth a reported 100 million dollars including over 40 million in guaranteed money.
The immediate focus of Steelers Nation is if and how Herbig’s new deal impacts the futures of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, but the bigger picture behind Herbig’s extension is what it signals about the team’s direction.
Nick Herbig strip sacks Joe Burrow. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Early Herbig Extension Signals End of Steelers Draft Drought
The Steelers drafted Nick Herbig in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He’s now entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Omar Khan opened the off season by listing Herbig as a player he wanted to re-sign before he reached free agency.
- This is not something Steelers Nation is accustomed to — at least not in recent memory.
But once upon a time, things were different in Pittsburgh. In the spring of 1993, the NFL’s first year free agency, owners were tripping over themselves throwing money at players, trying to buy a Lombardi.
In Pittsburgh Dan Rooney and Tom Donahoe took a different approach, quietly extending players like Dermontti Dawson and Greg Lloyd who were entering the final years of their contracts.
- That practice became standard Steelers operating procedure for the next two and a half decades.
- But the maturation of the Steelers 2018 draft class marked a turning point.
Terrell Edmunds, Mason Rudolph, Chukwuma Okorafor, Diontae Johnson, Alex Highsmith and Pat Freiermuth were only the players from the Steelers 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 draft to get second contracts.
Alex Highsmith strip sacks Tom Brady. Photo Credit: Barry Reeger, HJ News.com
Highsmith, Freiermuth, Johnson and Rudolph were the only ones to the Steelers re-signed while they were still playing on rookie contracts, and out of that group only Highsmith and Freiermuth got long-term starter deals.
In contrast, the Steelers have already re-signed Herbig, and want to ink new deals with Joey Porter Jr., Keeanu Benton and perhaps Darnell Washington this summer.
- Word is they would have given Broderick Jones his 5th year rookie tender had he not been hurt.
Barring injury or an unanticipated regression, Omar Khan will likely take a similar approach with several members of the Steelers 2024 Draft class next spring.
The Steelers playoff drought started with the loss to the Patriots in the 2017 AFC Championship game. Their quality of their drafts dipped precipitously starting in 2018 and continued through the rest of Kevin Colbert’s tenure.
- But Herbig’s early extension shows that the Steelers draft drought is over.
The Steelers not only have a draft pick going into his 4th year who is worthy of a long-term extension, hopefully Herbig is the first of many.
Let’s hope that Herbig and the rest of his draft class make some playoff rain with Mike McCarthy.
