From the moment Nick Herbig signed his four-year, $100 million extension in the offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ future at outside linebacker has been a major question facing general manager Omar Khan.
Now, with the NFL trade deadline looming on Nov. 10, he has a layered decision to make about whether to keep the highly paid trio of Herbig, T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith together for the duration of 2026 or deal one of them to bolster the current team’s depth or secure valuable draft capital for the future.
The team’s recent hot streak has made a trade hard to fathom. The Steelers are tied with the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns for first in the AFC North division at 4-2. They’ve won three of their past four games as coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers have started to find consistent success with their short and quick passing game.
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Defensively, the Steelers have been solid against the pass. Only six teams are allowing fewer than the Steelers’ average of 204.3 yards per game through the air. The pass rush, which ranks ninth with 16 sacks, has helped the defensive backs win consistently on the outside. Watt, Highsmith and Herbig have accounted for 9.5 of those sacks. And Watt, of course, is one of the league’s most decorated players in terms of resume with 119.5 career sacks and a Defensive Player of the Year award on his trophy shelf.
It makes sense reflexively not to mess with that kind of success. Then again, it also would have made short- and long-term sense to sign Joey Porter Jr. for the long term to bolster the secondary even further and strengthen the team for this season, which Rodgers has indicated will be his last in the NFL before heading off to likely Hall of Fame enshrinement.
Instead, Khan opted not to sign Porter and traded him to the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 1.
That move sent a message that the Steelers aren’t betting their whole strategy on Rodgers’ final season, even as they’d certainly like to make the playoffs and potentially make a deep run with him while they still can.
It’s therefore natural to wonder if a similar calculation could be made that one of the outside linebackers is expendable for the right price.
Will the Steelers trade a linebacker?
Of the three, Highsmith seems most likely to move. Watt, 32, is a fan favorite and likely future Hall of Famer. He’s still capable of taking over games like he did in the Week 1 victory against Atlanta, when he notched two sacks and returned an interception for a touchdown that essentially sealed the win. As long as he’s productive like that, the Steelers are likely to stand by him.
Highsmith is three years younger than Watt at 29, but still not a young player at this stage of his career. He’s been productive with 48 career starts, but it’s hard to believe the Steelers are thinking too hard about him beyond his contract that expires after next season.
Herbig is 24 and profiles as a long-term piece of the puzzle with 18 sacks in limited snaps across his first four NFL season.
The trio would carry a combined 2027 cap hit of about $88 million if they’re kept together for next season, per Spotrac. That would be about 29% of the 2026 salary cap for three guys at a single position where only two can start within Patrick Graham’s 3-4 defensive scheme.
It’s not completely untenable, especially with Rodgers coming off the books, but it’s also not ideal for the team’s ability to improve other parts of the roster as McCarthy continues to mold it in his image.
The trade deadline therefore represents one of the few remaining points of leverage Khan has to extract some value from this roster logjam. It’s the trade storyline to watch most closely in the weeks to come.
Patrick Queen is another name to keep on the radar from a Steelers perspective. The veteran linebacker is in the final year of his contract. The team declined to extend him this offseason, indicating that his time in Pittsburgh could be coming to an end. And it signed fellow veteran Elandon Roberts to the practice squad last week to bolster depth at the position.
That raised eyebrows about whether the team could be looking to move on from Queen sooner than the end of the season.
On the field, he’s missing 15.6% of his tackles after missing 20.3% in 2025, per Pro Football Focus data. He’s allowed 14 receptions for 130 yards on the 22 occasions on which opponents have targeted him in the passing game. And he’s totaled just nine stops, defined by PFF as plays that result in failure for opposing offenses. That puts him on pace for a career low of about 25 over a fully healthy season.
If both sides feel that it’s time for a change of scenery, he’s a player who could realistically be moved even as the Steelers continue to pursue the playoffs in 2026.
Steelers trade target
On the possible acquisition front, receiver is once again an area where Khan may wish to act.
The team added Michael Pittman Jr. in an offseason trade with Indianapolis, but he’s played sparingly because of a nagging foot injury. Rookie Germie Bernard has stepped up as a serviceable No. 2 – he had 11 catches for 87 yards and the game-winning touchdown in NFL Week 6 against Tampa Bay.
Injuries to Roman Wilson and Ben Skowronek have ravaged the team’s depth behind Bernard and top option DK Metcalf, though.
Veteran Maquez Valdes-Scantling was signed to the practice squad this week after finishing the season with the Steelers a year ago, but it’s possible Khan may want to give Rodgers a more serious option who’s currently on an NFL roster. Valdes-Scantling caught just 10 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown in five games with Pittsburgh last season, so his ability to make a major impact now is likely limited.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Steelers face tough decisions on T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith as NFL trade deadline looms