Nathaniel William Herbig (born July 10, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

and signed with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2019.

Early life and high school

Herbig was born in Lihue, Hawaii and originally grew up in

Kalaheo, Hawaii Kalāheo (literally, "the proud day" in Hawaiian) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kauai County, island of Kauai, Hawaii, United States. The population was 4,996 at the 2020 census, up from 3,913 at the 2000 c ...

before moving from

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

after his freshman year of high school so that he could attend Saint Louis School in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. He was named first-team All-State as a senior. Herbig committed to play college football at Stanford after his junior year, but de-committed and re-opened his recruitment shortly after the end of his senior season. He ultimately re-committed to Stanford after considering offers from California and Washington.

College career

Herbig played three seasons for the Stanford Cardinal. He played in all 13 of Stanford's games with six starts at left guard and was named a freshman All-American by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. He moved to right guard as a sophomore, making 13 starts and was named first-team All-

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. Herbig was named second-team All-Pac-12 as a junior after making six starts at right guard and one start at right tackle while missing six games due to injury. Following his Junior season, Herbig announced that he would forgo his final year of college to declare for the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

Professional career

Although initially projected to be a mid-round pick, Herbig's draft stock fell significantly after a poor performance at the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footb ...

that included a

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

time of 5.41 seconds, the slowest run of all 260 participants. He ultimately went unselected in the

Philadelphia Eagles

Herbig signed with the

as an

on April 28, 2019. Herbig made his NFL debut on December 15, 2019, against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

. Herbig played in two games in his rookie season. Herbig made his first career start on September 13, 2020, in the Eagles' season opener against the Washington Football Team. In the 2020 season, he appeared in 15 games and started 12. After the team suffered injuries to both of their starting guards, Herbig started five games and appeared in five other games at guard for the Eagles in 2021. He was placed on the COVID list on January 3, 2022. In the 2021 regular season, Herbig played in 16 games and started five. He was activated one week later on January 10, missing just one game where the Eagles did not play their starters. On March 15, 2022, the Eagles placed a restricted free agent tender on Herbig. After signing the tender, he was waived by the team on May 4, 2022.

New York Jets

On May 5, 2022, Herbig was claimed off waivers by the New York Jets. In the 2022 season, Herbig played in and started 11 games for the Jets.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On March 16, 2023, Herbig signed a two-year contract with the

Personal

Herbig's father, Bruce, played football and basketball at Lewis & Clark College and his grandfather played football at Wheaton College in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. His younger brother Nick is his teammate with the Pittsburgh Steelers and played linebacker at Wisconsin.

References

External links

Pittsburgh Steelers bio

Stanford Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbig, Nate 1998 births Living people American football offensive guards New York Jets players Pittsburgh Steelers players Sportspeople from Kauai County, Hawaii Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Hawaii Saint Louis School alumni Stanford Cardinal football players