Steelers Now
ESPN analytics analyst Seth Walder recently predicted that Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-round pick Derrick Harmon will win the 2025 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. The expectations are very high for the Detroit native.
“I don’t do a lot of prospect evaluating, but I do look at pass rushing and have created a sack-rate forecast model that predicts sacks numbers for the first few seasons of a player’s career. It uses data – taking into account things like their college pressure and pass rush win-rates, quality of school they went to and played against, combine information,” Walder said, via Steelers Takeaways. “Harmon graded strongly – he was sixth in his class. As a defensive tackle, getting sacks is more impressive than someone who gets the same number of sacks as an edge rusher, and the DROY awards pass rushers, mostly. And playing next to [Cameron] Heyward, [T.J.] Watt, [Nick] Herbig and [Alex] Highsmith should give him some good chances to get sacks.”
Many believe Harmon would have been a top 10 pick if it weren’t for injury concerns surrounding his shoulder. His MRI at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine pushed him down draft boards as it showed a partially torn rotator cuff and a torn labrum.
However, he has dismissed any worries regarding the issue since.
“Nothing’s wrong with my shoulder,” Harmon said. “I’m 100 percent healthy, ready to go.”
General manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin also dismissed any worries.
“We wouldn’t have picked him unless our medical staff was comfortable with it,” Khan said.
In his three seasons of college football, Harmon did not miss a single game due to injury. He played 38 games.
If Harmon can stay healthy and translate his play to the next level, he will surely have a good opportunity to earn some hardware by the end of his rookie season.
Steelers defensive line coach Karl Dunbar revealed rookie Harmon is already running with the first-team defense.
“He goes out there with the ones,” Dunbar said. “He’s our left starting defensive tackle. You can write that.”
Harmon is likely being relied upon to take the place of veteran Larry Ogunjobi, who was released in March. And the Steelers are already seeing what they hoped to from the rookie at the beginning stages of the offseason program.
“You can tell whether or not they’re in shape, and I think he’s done a good job of bringing himself into camp in some kind of shape,” Dunbar said. “I think he’s really wired in.”
During an appearance on Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast, Harmon provided some in-depth details on his first interaction with Mike Tomlin, which occurred at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“Actually, my first visit, I think like everyone in that room was right next to each other. I ran into (the) Pittsburgh interview. I shake everybody’s hand, like, ‘How are y’all doing?’ I’m like overamped to do this interview. He’s like. ‘Nice to meet you, I love your energy, but listen, this...
