Behind the Steel Curtain
Will Kaleb Johnson or Derrick Harmon see more snaps in 2025?
The Steelers’ 2025 draft was widely regarded as a solid haul of players — but how much will they contribute in their first year in the NFL? Today I’ll be taking a stab at ranking how much each Steeler rookie will play in the upcoming season.
It was a two-man race for the top spot, and ultimately I decided to give it to Harmon as he’s the first rookie to officially lock down a starting job. Harmon will be taking what were Larry Ogunjobi’s defensive snaps in the past: 494 last season and 767 the year before that.
Harmon will be on the field a lot in 2025, but it will be interesting to see how often he plays in the Steelers’ two-defensive-linemen sub package. Cam Heyward and Keeanu Benton are veterans who could get the initial nod over Harmon, but Heyward — who played 71% of the team’s defensive snaps last year at 35 years old — will probably get more time to rest this season now that the D-line depth has improved. That opens the door for Harmon.
The Iowa product may not steal the starting job in 2025, but he’s likely to earn an early-down workload and heavy usage in Pittsburgh’s running back rotation.
Johnson is a perfect fit for Arthur Smith’s zone running scheme and was at his best as a high-volume runner in college. While Jaylen Warren will be the starter to begin the season, Johnson has the big running back frame Mike Tomlin often looks for in starters and he lacks the fumbling problems that have plagued Warren and Kenneth Gainwell’s careers.
If Johnson can continue to clean up his pass protection, he should see the field a lot.
Last year, Najee Harris recorded 569 offensive snaps to Jaylen Warren’s 447. I’d expect a similarly even distribution of playing time for the Steelers’ running backs in 2025.
So far, we’re just following the Steelers’ draft order.
Barring major injury, there will likely be a sizable gap between Johnson, the team’s RB2, and Sawyer, the team’s OLB4, in terms of 2025 snaps. But the Pittsburgh outside linebacker room always gets banged up over the course of the season, meaning Sawyer is likely to get some playing time in the upcoming year. Plus, his specialty is run downs, meaning he could get rotated in over Nick Herbig from time to time.
And at the very least, Sawyer has the skill set to be an immediate contributor on special teams. Pittsburgh’s OLB4 last year, Jeremiah Moon, only played in 13 games given the team’s trade for Preston Smith. However, he still logged 111 defensive snaps and 222 special teams snaps. Sawyer could see an even bigger workload in 2025.
We keep going down the Steelers draft order — now fifth-round defensive lineman Yahya Black.
Black is...
