The Pittsburgh Steelers took an unforeseen route with their first-round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft and selected Oregon defensive tackle Derrick Harmon with the 21st overall pick.
Harmon, standing at 6-foot-4 and 313 pounds, spent three seasons at Michigan State before transferring to Oregon for his senior season. He logged 42 games across his collegiate career and recorded a career-high 27 solo tackles and 45 combined tackles with Oregon before declaring for the draft. Harmon will now join Cam Heyward, Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt on Pittsburgh’s defensive front next season.
The Steelers surrendered 299 rushing yards in their AFC wild-card loss to the Baltimore Ravens, which highlighted the team’s need for improvement on the defensive front, on full display.
“I had a chance to go see him live and he’s impressive,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said, per ESPN’s coverage. “He’s on the other side of the line of scrimmage constantly. You see his quickness. He was at Michigan State, transferred to Oregon. He identified Oregon as not only the school but the scheme to play in because they would let him get up the field and attack. And that’s what he did for Oregon all year long. He was just a load to block, disruptive against the run as he was against the pass, and line of scrimmage, Pittsburgh Steelers, something feels kind of right about that.”
It was a surprising move considering the Steelers still don’t have a starting quarterback and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders was available once Pittsburgh was on the clock. Members of the franchise, including Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, had met with Sanders in the days leading into the draft and the 23-year-old himself spoke highly of Pittsburgh’s DK Metcalf and George Pickens. Sanders was projected to go well above the top-20, so seeing that the Steelers had a chance and still passed was among the most shocking sights of the draft.
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Tomlin did mention that Pittsburgh’s ongoing quarterback dilemma wouldn’t interfere with its draft plans and by selecting Harmon, the Steelers stood by their word — even though the QB1 search continues.
Pittsburgh traded away its second-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks when the team acquired Metcalf earlier this offseason, so it seems as though the Steelers are all-in on either free agent Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins, currently of the Atlanta Falcons.
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