Later tonight, the Pittsburgh Steelers will presumably make a pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft and address a major need on their roster, whether that’s along the defensive line, at running back, safety, wide receiver or even quarterback.
Whatever they do, the dots will be easy to connect, and the selection should be easy to comprehend under GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl. The Steelers have done a great deal of work at numerous positions throughout the pre-draft process, and all that work comes to a culmination tonight in Green Bay.
In the final mock drafts from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler and NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein, they addressed huge holes for the Steelers, but they went in different directions in doing so. In Brugler’s mock draft, he has the Steelers landing Oregon DL Derrick Harmon, while Zierlein has the Steelers swinging big at quarterback and drafting Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders at No. 21 overall.
Previously, Brugler had the Steelers taking Sanders at No. 21 overall, becoming one of the first draft analysts to have Sanders falling all the way to the Steelers. But in his final mock draft, he has Sanders falling out of the first round entirely.
“In my post-combine mock, I had Shedeur Sanders to the Steelers here — and that is how things might play out Thursday night. But I won’t be surprised if Pittsburgh bypasses quarterback to strengthen its defensive line,” Brugler writes regarding the selection of Harmon.
Harmon makes a great deal of sense for the Steelers and would mark the second straight first-round pick under Khan in which he and head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t attend his Pro Day, though Harmon was an official pre-draft visitor to Pittsburgh.
By all accounts, it’s a great crop of defensive linemen, and the Steelers have a chance at No. 21 overall to add a high-end, impactful defensive lineman. That’s where Harmon comes in.
He models his game after Cameron Heyward and getting a chance to learn and grow under the seven-time Pro Bowler for the next few years would be fantastic for Harmon. He had a great 2024 season at Oregon, brings great physicality, size and athleticism to the trenches, and could be the next building block for the Steelers along their defensive line.
There are some medical concerns with Harmon, specifically his shoulder, but if that all checks out, he could be another piece added to the trenches on both sides of the football that helps Pittsburgh get back to its physical, nasty style of play.
As for Zierlein, he previously went with Harmon to the Steelers in his mock draft on April 1, trading down in the process. But now, on the day of the 2025 NFL Draft, Zierlein believes QB is the direction the Steelers go in the first round, nabbing Sanders to be their potential franchise quarterback.
“This is feeling more and more likely — unless someone jumps the Steelers. Mike Tomlin seems like the right fit for Sanders, but it’d be interesting to see how quickly Pittsburgh would bring along the quarterback,” Zierlein writes.
The buzz regarding Sanders and the Steelers has built to a crescendo in recent weeks. He visited the Steelers in mid-April, spoke highly of the meeting, and then head coach Mike Tomlin raved about Sanders’ toughness and competitiveness in a pre-draft press conference Tuesday.
Of course, it could all be a smokescreen. After all, it is lying season. But the Steelers have done a great deal of work on the quarterback position during the pre-draft process, meeting with a handful of signal callers. Sanders was a late addition to that group, but he’s a player they’re familiar with.
The Steelers need a franchise quarterback, a star at the position, one who knows how to deal with pressure and can create something out of nothing while leading a group of men. Sanders can do that, as he’s shown in his collegiate career.
There is certainly a bit of a media circus surrounding Sanders due to his last lineage and the attention that brings, but he handles it well, and the talent is very clear. He comes off as a bit cocky and arrogant, but in today’s NFL you need the swagger and confidence at QB, and Sanders exudes it.
It might not be a popular pick for the Steelers, especially with the 2026 NFL Draft class at quarterback projecting to be much better than this year’s, but the Steelers need a long-term solution at the position, and Sanders checks a lot of the boxes they look for.
We’ll see what direction they ultimately decide to go in tonight in Green Bay.
