For all the changes the Pittsburgh Steelers made to the roster this offseason, one more that happened rather quietly but could have a serious impact on the team is the team’s choice not to re-sign veteran edge defender Markus Golden.

With Golden gone and no real replacement on the roster, Nick Herbig is the guy who is taking up the mantle as the team’s primary backup pass rusher to T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmit.

This might seem short-sighted given Herbig only played just under 17 percent of the defensive snaps last season and finished with only three sacks. But it is clear the coaching staff have the confidence in him to place no barriers in his way to an increased role.

The combination of Herbig and Golden accounted for 421 snaps and the combo had seven sacks. Pittsburgh saw in 2022 what life can be like when Watt was out with an injury so we fully expect to see Watt, Highsmith and Herbig in a more legitimate three-man rotation in an effort to keep Watt fresh and healthy for the second half of the season.

We are counting on a big year from Herbig and the version of him we saw in the second half of the 2023 season.

Story originally appeared on Steelers Wire