Tag: Nate Herbig

Steelers injury update: C Zach Frazier has timeline for return

The Steelers hope to have Frazier back after the Steelers bye week in Week Nine.

There have been few rookies in the NFL this season who have played as well as Pittsburgh Steelers center Zach Frazier. Frazier took over the starting job after Nate Herbig was injured and looked like a 10-year veteran and not a rookie second-round pick.

Unfortunately, last week against the Las Vegas Raiders, Frazier suffered an ankle sprain that forced him out of the game. Ryan McCollum came in for Fraizer and played well. This is great news since it sounds like Frazier is going to miss the next two games and not be back until after the Steelers Week Nine bye week.

https://twitter.com/FarabaughFB/status/1846568933660176520

The Steelers offensive line has been decimated with injuries so far this season. The team has already lost James Daniels and Troy Fautanu for extended stretches and were without guard Isaac Seumalo for several weeks. And as we noted, it was an injury that got Frazier into the starting lineup.

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Steelers rookie to start with Nate Herbig’s season officially over

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie center Zach Frazier moves into the starting lineup with Nate Herbig on injured reserve.

The presumed starting center of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2024 offensive line is done for the season. Nate Herbig, who repped with the first team all of training camp, has landed on injured reserve with a torn rotator cuff.

Multiple reports earlier this week speculated that Herbig would be out for an extended time, though Mike Tomlin awaited a second opinion.

With Herbig sidelined comes an earlier-than-anticipated opportunity for Zach Frazier. The rookie center out of West Virginia has played solid in Herbig’s absence and has been the star of an offensive line that’s started poorly this preseason.

Frazier was on the field for 83 snaps in the Steelers’ first two preseason games and has not allowed a sack in 43 pass plays. According to Joe Rutter of TribLive, Frazier was on the field more than any Steelers offensive or defensive player on Saturday versus the Buffalo Bills. He remained in after Justin Fields replaced Russell Wilson and played eight of the Steelers’ 10 series.

Until a suffering broken leg in the Mountaineer’s final game of the 2023 college football season last November, Frazier was initially projected as a first-round selection.

Frazier will now have the opportunity to show 31 other teams that they were wrong to let him slide.

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Steelers starting center to miss significant time with torn rotator cuff

The Steelers might not have Nate Herbig at all this season.

Earlier in the week we first got the news that Pittsburgh Steelers starting center Nate Herbig was set to miss time with what was deemed a significant shoulder injury. Now, according to Steelers beat writer Gerry Dulac, we now have more information about the specifics of the injury.

Dulac is reporting that the shoulder injury is a torn rotator cuff and his entire 2024 season could be in jeopardy. The team had already made the decision to start the season with rookie Zach Frazier as the starting center. This injury designation cements that and could mean Frazier will get all 17 regular-season starts.

Pittsburgh selected Frazier in the second round of the 2024 NFL draft to be the center of the future. The future is now and we hope Frazier is ready to go. The Steelers offensive line struggled mightily on Saturday night against the Buffalo Bills.  The Steelers take on the Detroit Lions this week in the team’s final preseason game.

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Pittsburgh Steelers should kick tires on Mason Cole

Former Steelers C Mason Cole is about to get a call from his agent.

Mason Cole is about to get a call from his agent. The former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman could have to swap whatever trade he took up as a free agent for the Black and Gold.

Nate Herbig, Pittsburgh’s presumed starter at center, is out for an extended period, if not the season.

The injury is forcing the Steelers to start rookie Zach Frazier sooner than they wanted, as well as a depth void. Herbig was slated as the backup at both right and left guard and center once Frazier eventually got plugged in.

Cole’s release created an urgent need at center leading up to the 2024 NFL draft. West Virginia’s Frazier landed in their lap and is now expected to start the season with Herbig sidelined.

While Cole suffered a disastrous 2023 season, he’s familiar with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Steelers with him. The offense may have changed, but he hasn’t forgotten how to play center.

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3 things the Nate Herbig injury means for the Steelers

With Nate Herbig injured, the Zach Frazier era starts now.

In something of a surprising bit of news, it came out on Saturday that starting center Nate Herbig has a significant shoulder injury that is going to sideline him for a significant amount of time. This means that rookie center Zach Frazier is now the team’s starting center for the regular season.

Here are three things this move means for Pittsburgh.

Mason McCormick is now on notice

With Herbig out and Frazier a starter, the team’s backup center becomes starting right guard James Daniels. This means rookie Mason McCormick could end up in the starting lineup at some point in the season.

A release could be coming soon

Herbig has a 2024 cap hit of $5.46 million but the team could save $4 million if they release him. If the injury is as bad as they say, this feels inevitable.

The quarterback position got a boost

No matter what anyone thinks, watching Herbig botch those snaps last week couldn’t have done anything positive for Russell Wilson and Justin Fields’ confidence.

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Steelers rookie Zach Frazier gets nod with Nate Herbig sidelined for ‘extended period’

Steelers rookie C Zach Frazier is promoted to starter with veteran OL Nick Herbig injured.

Mike Tomlin is known for bringing his rookies along slowly, and that appeared to be his approach with rookie center Zach Frazier this season. But an injury to veteran offensive lineman Nate Herbig has foiled that plan.

Herbig worked with the first team throughout training camp until sustaining a shoulder injury in practice on Aug. 11.

Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote in a tweet that Herbig’s “significant” injury will sideline him for an extended period of time, if not the season.

The sixth-year lineman started the Steelers’ first preseason game last week and had a forgettable outing, mishandling two snaps that resulted in fumbles by quarterback Justin Fields.

Herbig’s injury cuts into the depth of Pittsburgh’s offensive line. Though Frazier was inevitably expected to become the starting center, Herbig was slated as the backup at both right and left guard and center.

Expect the Steelers to be working out offensive linemen this week to bolster their depth.

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin talks increased workload for C Zach Frazier

Zach Frazier was as good as advertised against the Texans on Friday night.

As bad as Nate Herbig was on Friday night, Zach Frazier was that good. The Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Houston Texans on Friday night and the lowlight of the game aside from the loss was the play of Herbig at center with two bad snaps in just three drives.

The rookie Frazier came in and ended up playing 66 percent of the offensive snaps (39). Head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about Frazier’s performance and what it could mean for his future in the preseason.

“He’s one of the guys I’m talking about,” Frazier said. “He was in the stadium on Friday. He’s got that in stadium exposure. So it’s reasonable to expect him to be significantly better. Next week we are going to position him to do so with an increased workload.”

We expect Frazier to get the start this week against the Buffalo Bills. Even fellow rookie Ryan McCollum did better at center than Herbig did and Herbig could find himself on the roster bubble if Frazier continues to play well.

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3 Steelers on the roster bubble after the loss to the Texans

Multiple Steelers played poorly enough vs the Texand they are on the roster bubble.

Friday night’s preseason loss to the Houston Texans did not go according to plan for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Texans had a one-game head start on the Steelers and it really showed.

There were a few excellent performances from guys like rookie linebacker Payton Wilson and backup running back Diajun Edwards but there were also several guys who did nothing to hold their spots on the roster.

Here are three guys who were bad enough they could find themselves on the roster bubble this week.

WR Quez Watkins

If you are not going to have any impact in the passing game, you have better not mess up two punts if you want to make the team. Quez Watkins was pretty awful against the Texans and might not make it to the start of the season.

C Nate Herbig

A pair of bad snaps when you are being pushed by rookie Zach Frazier is not how Nate Herbig wanted the night to go. Herbig had a miserable game while Frazier was rock solid. Herbig makes too much money to play so poorly.

S Damontae Kazee

Kazee is another guy making too much money and with too much competition around him to play as badly as he did. Kazee struggled and is facing stiff competition to stay on the team.

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The best bargains and most underrated players in 2023 NFL free agency (so far)

Everybody wants to talk about the big-name signings, but here are the best bargains of the 2023 free agent class so far.

There are people in the NFL — especially people who have endured one or more instances of top-heavy free-agency spending — who will tell you that if you want to contend for a Super Bowl, the bottom third of your roster will be just as important as the top third at some point in time. Yes, you want optimal performances from the best and brightest, and if you get it, that’s great. But one of your star players will probably miss time with an injury. Another star might be involved in a contract dispute. And it’s entirely possible that the big-ticket free agent your team brought in for the gross national product of Estonia is actually a bad fit for what his new coaches would like him to do.

It happens all the time. To counter all of these little nightmares, it’s wise to find the best bargains in any free-agent cycle — those players who may not be marquee names, but whose performances on the field makes them important to you.

Especially when things go wrong up top.

There are still quite a few talented players on the open market, so we’ll be adding to this list as we go… but for now, here are the free agents either re-signing in their old homes or going to new locations who will impact their rosters much more than you may think.

Former Jets guard Nate Herbig agrees to terms with Steelers on 2-year contract

Nate Herbig joining the Steelers

Former Jets offensive guard Nate Herbig is joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, agreeing to terms on a two-year contract, per Mike Garafolo.

The deal is worth $8 million with $4 million guaranteed.

Herbig stepped in at right guard after the host of injuries to the offensive line, starting 11 games for the Jets in 2022. Ironically enough, his first start of 2022 was against the team he will now be playing for, the Steelers.

Herbig joined the Jets in 2021 after three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. He came into the league undrafted out of Stanford in 2019.