Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-round pick Derrick Harmon had a quiet NFL debut on the stat sheet in the first preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but he turned heads on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Harmon’s striking bull rush on Bucs left guard Ben Bredeson led to his first NFL sack. Harmon displayed remarkable strength on the play.
“Really just playing within the defense, trying to do my best to help the team out to the best of my ability,” Harmon said when asked about the well-executed bull rush.
Harmon was happy to get his first NFL sack, but he knows it’s not an official one. That will have to wait until the regular season.
“First sack as a rookie, (it) felt good,” Harmon said. “It’s the preseason, so just ready to get that one in the regular season. That’s it.”
.@Steelers' first-round pick Derrick Harmon gets to the QB 😤
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— NFL (@NFL) August 16, 2025
As mentioned, Harmon did not make a significant impact last week against the Jaguars. It’s something that was on the Detroit native’s mind throughout the week. He wanted to bounce back.
“Yeah, week one was kind of rough for me,” he said. “I (did not) take a big jump, but just more trusted my ability in the second game. Still a lot of work to do in the back end. Still a lot of work as far as me individually and the team, so just ready to get back to work.
“Just trying to get better every week. Something Cam (Heyward) said, don’t make the same mistakes this week. Just get better. Make new mistakes and things like that. So like Coach T(omlin) always says, make mistakes. Don’t make the same mistakes. So that’s what we going to do.”
Harmon said the biggest thing he’s improvement he made from Week 1 to Week 2 is using his length and his getting hands on people. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin says Harmon has heavy hands.
“I mean, 4x hands, so just got to put them paws on people,” Harmon said.
Tomlin thought Harmon took a big step forward in his second preseason game, which is expected.
“I thought several players took a step forward. Two young guys in particular, I thought Harmon and Kaleb Johnson really took a step forward off their first performance,” Tomlin said. “But again, that’s a reasonable thing to expect. Second time stepping into a stadium, you see more of their talents. I think we talked about that a couple days ago in participation in the game.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Rookie Derrick Harmon Makes His Mark vs. Buccaneers: ‘Just Got to Put Them Paws on People’
