Not long before his four-year, $100-million contract extension was announced, edge rusher Nick Herbig told the media he wanted to “be a Steeler for life.”
If the deal wasn’t already sealed, that doubtless did the trick. Owner Art Rooney II is a sucker for that one-helmet stuff.
Regardless of the result achieved.
The Herbig contract is difficult to understand.
It’s the first $100 million contract given to a backup. ($42 million of that is guaranteed.)
“Non-starter” is the polite term. But Herbig is a backup. Last season saw him play fewer snaps than starters Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt, albeit just 24 less than Highsmith.
There’s no problem with Herbig as a player.
But he’s part of a rotation at edge rusher, and isn’t first choice.
The average annual value of Herbig’s extension is $25 million. Highsmith’s AAV is $17 million. How does Highsmith feel about that?
The Steelers are spending an AAV of $83 million on three edge rushers. The Steelers had the sixth-most sacks in the NFL last year. That’s on the fringe of elite. At best.
The Steelers are disbursing $192 million on defense, most in the NFL. But last season, their defense finished seventh from bottom in yards allowed, just 17th-best in points allowed.
Not exactly value for money, and now they’re spending more.
A lot more.
On a backup. (Though Herbig’s extension doesn’t kick in till 2027.)
Herbig’s extension isn’t the mistake.
Watt’s extension is.
Watt got a three-year, $123 million ticket last July, an AAV of $41 million.
That’s $1 million more on AAV than Myles Garrett, Watt’s rival. For the sake of vanity. Not justified by production.
Watt declined last year, posting seven sacks. That includes eight games with zero. No sacks in Watt’s last four games. He hit a wall.
Garrett, meantime, won NFL Defensive Player of the Year for the second time (to Watt’s one) and broke Watt’s single-season sack record by posting 23. Now he’s escaped Cleveland and is off to Los Angeles to win a Super Bowl.
Game, set, match.
Some assume that Herbig’s new deal will make the Steelers trade Highsmith or Watt.
Highsmith, maybe.
No team would want Watt’s big ticket. $41 million AAV for a player clearly in decline? No chance. That needed to be done a couple years ago, like when Cleveland pulled the trigger with Garrett. When Watt could still excel and the Steelers’ window was closed.
Which it still is.
The Steelers could have let Herbig play out the final season of his existing contract.
He’s still a backup. His stats wouldn’t have soared. Would other teams have made big offers to a player who couldn’t crack the starting lineup over four seasons? There’s always the franchise tag.
But Herbig would have been unhappy.
Can’t have that.
It’s a soft organization. How often does a Steelers player not get what he wants?
Just hold in. The Steelers cave.
Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. wants an extension. He figures to get at least $25 million AAV, perhaps considerably more.
The Steelers should have got Porter’s deal done first. He’s more important.
The usual suspects think that Rooney and GM Omar Khan get things right. That the Herbig deal will turn out to be a bargain.
I wouldn’t trust Rooney and Khan to wash my car.
They put loyalty over leverage, paying vast sums to maintain the core of a team that hasn’t won a playoff game in nine seasons. They’re paying a kicker $8 million per, for heck’s sake.
The trade that sent Garrett from Cleveland to the Los Angeles Rams showcased both teams doing the right thing.
The Browns know they can’t win, so they moved an asset before it depreciated and got in the sweepstakes to draft Arch Manning.
The Rams know they can win, so they got a superstar defender and did right by quarterback Matthew Stafford, 38 but still very good. (The Steelers never did something like that for Ben Roethlisberger.)
The Steelers keep wallowing in the mushy middle.
But at least they have a really good backup edge rusher.
