If you were waiting to buy a Derrick Harmon jersey, now you can. The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Twitter that their first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft will wear No. 99. Harmon wore No. 55 at Oregon and No. 41 at Michigan State during his college career.
The last Steelers player to wear 99 was Larry Ogunjobi, who wore it from 2022 to 2024. The number was also worn by DL Brett Keisel, who, fittingly, will announce one of the Steelers picks today. Keisel and LB Levon Kirkland are the best players to wear the number for Pittsburgh.
2024 first-round pick Troy Fautanu wears No. 76 for the Steelers. The last defensive lineman the Steelers selected in the first round was Cameron Heyward, who has worn No. 97 his whole career.
Harmon was a standout last season at Oregon, with 45 total tackles, including 11 tackles for a loss and five sacks. He measured in at 6044 and 313 pounds with 34 3/8″ arms at the NFL Combine. He does come to the Steelers with some medical concerns, as his Combine MRI revealed tears in his labrum and rotator cuff. However, Harmon is still expected to be an impact player for the Steelers in year one, and he’ll have the perfect mentor in Harmon.
Pittsburgh’s selection of Harmon got a lot of praise from around the league, with The Athletic draft guru Dane Brugler believing Harmon never should’ve fallen out of the top 20 and Brian Baldinger praising his fit in Pittsburgh’s defense. Harmon is a player who should help bolster a defensive line that fell short of expectations around Heyward at times last season and give the team a young, long-term building block.
The Steelers had their eyes on Derrick Harmon throughout the pre-draft process and landed a player with ideal traits to fit their defense. The Steelers hope that Harmon can have the same amount of success that Heyward did in Pittsburgh and that No. 99 becomes synonymous with Harmon as No. 97 has for Heyward and the Steelers.
It’s a jersey number that does come with a history of success, and Keisel was one of the more underrated players and a key piece of Pittsburgh’s defensive line during his tenure with the team from 2002-2014. But it’s a number that Harmon can create a legacy with, and it’s a good choice for the first-round rookie.
