Steelers fans, I know Nick Herbert's playing great, but that does not mean this team should

trade away Alex Highsmith right now. I'll explain why and a lot more here on the Locked

on Steers podcast. I'm your host, Chris Carter. Let's get into it.

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Hello, welcome to the Locked-on Steelers podcast.

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And if your bet wins, you get $300 back and bonus bets to use across the app more on fan do later all right steelers fans i wanted to address this to lead off the wednesday show by the way welcome to october steelers fans it's by week but we still got a lot to discuss here i am just now getting ready to leave Ireland. We're going to be headed out, so this show's going to be a little bit shorter, but we'll have still content coming your way all throughout the rest of the week leading into the weekend. I should be able to get back into the Steelers facility tomorrow. Actually, yeah, tomorrow when I am back or today, when I'm back, whenever times a fragile thing right now because the Doo Woo, we will get assistant coaches this week as it's the bye week. And this will be our best chance to talk to them. But I wanted to lead off this show talking about Nick Herbig and Alex Highsmith, because I've seen this notion pushed more and more. I saw it pushed a lot in the off season. and I was against it then. I'm still against it now. I don't think the Steelers should trade away Alex Highsmith because of Nick Herbigh's excellent play in this last game or in the last few games. I think Nick Herbick's taking some great steps, and he's becoming the guy the Steelers, Ope, he would, when they drafted him. But I also think that you got to keep your depth at outside linebacker.

And I know Alex Highsmith's been hurt and that's been frustrating.

You haven't been able to see him in action.

But you got to remember what he brings to the table when he is fully healthy and what this team needs to be at its best. And to me, they need this outside linebacker position to be pristine, not just with the starters, but they need to have at least some backup ready for when one guy goes down, even if it's just for a game or two. If a guy goes down for a long term, we've seen the impact of that, right? How many times in the last few seasons have you seen T.J. Watt go down and this team didn't have an answer. Well, now they do, but we also see they not only have an answer for when T.J. Wat goes down, but for an Alex Highsmith goes down because of Nick Herbick. And with Nick Herbick there, you can flop him on either side. You can move you can move out tismith around if you need to and

honestly i'd say the play of jack sawyer also gives you a reliable fourth option and that's why i think

the steelers need to keep uh need to keep all three guys right now i know there's this temptation to go

trade for a wide receiver for another playmaker for something else i don't think that that's the the move right now. I think Steelers could make a move like that. And listen, I'm not saying that Omar Khan won't make this move because Omar Khan's done a lot of not so predictable things in his early time with the Steelers. And that's kind of what he wants to do to make his name early in his career. But early in his GM career, because he's also been around the Steelers for like 20 years. But when I look at the Steelers as they're constructed right now, this defense is based on getting to the quarterback. What they've done the last two weeks as far as their improvement is their ability to get to the quarterback. And yes, you're going to say, well, Alex Heismith hasn't't been there last two weeks. So why do you need him? You need him because what if Nick Herbig goes down or what if T.J. Watt goes down. Then you're going to be doing with either one of those players with Jack Sorri and to Marvin Leal is your only edge rushing options. And that would take your pass, your top pass rush unit, your outside linebackers going from being an

asset in the pass rush to maybe a question mark or worse. And that's what this team cannot afford

to happen right now. They need all three of these guys healthy along with the younger guys that are

backups. I guess DeMarvin Nail is not younger because it is fourth year, but you get my point along

with the guys that are bona fide backups.

But having three guys that are starting, starter caliber outside linebackers is a much bigger asset to this team than just going and getting a rental wide receiver for a year, especially because this is Nick Herbick's third year.

He still has another year under contract.

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