It started as a locker-room routine. Two young Steelers, both entering pivotal seasons, showing up at the same time, same place, same mission. Nick Herbig and a teammate he declined to name on the record -- but whose identity he left little mystery about -- have been working out together this offseason, pushing each other through the grind that happens long before training camp opens.
Herbig shared the story during an appearance on Cam Heyward's podcast, a conversation that didn't just reveal the workout partnership but carried a much louder signal: Herbig expects this teammate to have a breakout season in 2026.
The linebacker, entering his third year after being drafted in 2023, has seen enough to know. And when a player like Herbig -- someone who has had to scratch and claw for snaps behind T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith -- speaks about someone else's trajectory, it carries weight. He knows what it takes to survive in that room.
So who is the defender? Herbig didn't drop a name, but context makes the picture clear. The defensive backs and inside linebackers have their own workout pods. Herbig is an outside linebacker by trade, listed at 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, and his development path runs through the same meeting rooms as every edge rusher on the roster. The young defender working alongside him is almost certainly another young piece of that front seven, likely a linebacker or defensive lineman who has been grinding in the weight room and on the field during OTAs.
The timing matters. We are past the 2026 NFL Draft, past OTAs, sitting now in June with mandatory minicamp still ahead and training camps opening in July. This is the player-driven part of the calendar, the stretch where veterans bond and young players separate themselves. Herbig and his teammate chose to use it together.
That choice speaks to something deeper. The Steelers' linebacker room has long been one of the most competitive position groups in the NFL. No. 90 T.J. Watt is still the headliner, still the most disruptive force on the field. Alex Highsmith lines up opposite him. And then there's the next wave: Herbig himself, along with 2025 draft pick Jack Sawyer, plus Jamin Davis, Malik Harrison, and the rest. Every snap has to be earned.
So when Herbig predicts a breakout for someone else, he is essentially signaling that the competition is elevating everyone. A rising tide lifts the whole room. And if that young defender hits, it could reshape how defensive coordinator Patrick Graham deploys his pass-rush packages.
Head Coach Mike McCarthy spoke on June 3 about the philosophy that governs this roster construction. "You can never have enough good football players, especially at the outside linebacker or the linebacker position," McCarthy said. That quote lands differently after Herbig's prediction. The front office has been loading up. They have added KJ Henry. They drafted Carson Bruener in 2025. They carry Cole Holcomb and Payton Wilson on the inside. The depth chart is thick.
But depth is not the same as a real difference-maker. A breakout means someone on that second tier forces his way onto the field in obvious passing situations. It means the team does not have to rotate Watt and Highsmith into the ground. It means the third-down defense gets faster, fresher, harder to predict.
That possibility is exactly what Herbig sees. He is not making a casual guess. He is spending his own offseason time with the defender, witnessing the work, feeling the progress. The prediction is an endorsement of process.
The context of the podcast itself matters, too. Cam Heyward -- now 37 years old, drafted by the Steelers in 2011 -- has seen more breakout candidates than he can count. He has watched young players rise and fizzle. His podcast is not a platform for baseless hype. If Heyward gave Herbig space to make this prediction, it is because the conversation carried credibility.
And that credibility is earned. Herbig, for his part, enters the 2026 season as a third-year pro -- counted accurately as entering his third NFL season, since his 2023 drafting makes 2026 his third campaign by league math. He has flashed. He has sacks. He has forced fumbles. But he has not yet become a full-time starter. He knows, better than most, the difference between potential and production.
So does the locker room. That is why Herbig's endorsement feels real. It is not a coach praising a player in a press conference, obligated to say positive things. It is a peer, a competitor, saying that someone else in the same room is about to take a step forward.
The question now is which defender delivers on that promise. The answer will start to reveal itself when training camp opens in July, when pads go on and the evaluation becomes physical. Until then, the prediction stands as a marker -- something to file away and check against.
A breakout from a young Steelers defender in 2026 would not just be a feel-good story. It would change the math of this defense. It would give Patrick Graham another chess piece to move. It would allow Watt and Highsmith to stay fresh into January. It would reward the organizational philosophy that McCarthy articulated: never stop adding good players, even when the room looks full.
Herbig sees it happening. He has the firsthand evidence. Now the rest of us get to watch and see if he is right.