Leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers placed a significant emphasis on landing run-stoppers and rebuilding the defensive line alongside Cameron Heyward and Keeanu Benton.
So far through five rounds, the Steelers have done that in a major way. After landing Oregon’s Derrick Harmon at No. 21 overall in the first round, the Steelers double-dipped along the defensive line in the fifth-round after a trade down with the Kansas City Chiefs, landing Iowa DL Yahya Black at No. 164 overall.
For NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, the move to land Black is vintage Steelers and makes clear how serious they are about being better against the run, especially after being gashed for 299 yards in the Wild Card Round loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
“Do you think the Pittsburgh Steelers wanted to get a little bit better against the run? Yeah, we talked about those Baltimore Ravens games, they go right back to the line of scrimmage again and that’s what Yahya Black is. [He’s] 336 pounds over 6-foot-5. Little bit of a clunky mover. You see plays he’s on the ground a little bit, but man, he is tough to move,” Jeremiah said.
“He is a space-eating defensive lineman who they announced as an end. He’ll be that strong base end for them.”
After getting ripped apart in the run game in the AFC Wild Card round loss to the rival Ravens, the Steelers have focused on shoring up the defensive line in a major way. Black is another key addition to the room.
The Iowa product was a pre-draft visitor to the Steelers and a name that they’ve had their eyes on throughout the pre-draft process. He checks the box of size, length and strength.
At the NFL Combine, he measured in at 6056, 336 pounds with long 35-inch arms. He ran a 5.38 40-yard dash with a 25.5-inch vertical and 7.63 three-cone.
During his five-year career at Iowa, Black recorded 117 career tackles for the Hawkeyes. Las season, Black recorded 34 tackles, 7 tackles for loss and a sack. He had a career-best 3.5 sacks in 2023 for the Hawkeyes.
In the scouting report of Black for Steelers Depot, Jonathan Heitritter called Black a space-eater as well, though he had some concerns about his pad level due to his size.
“Yahya Black is the quintessential space-eater teams look for on early downs, who possesses the size and bulk to take on and occasionally split double teams as a two-down plugger. He doesn’t bring much pass-rush upside to the table and needs to work on his leverage to fully play to his strengths and warrant meaningful snaps on early downs. Still, his size and length are hard to come by, and further development on his technique could help him go from a raw prospect to a solid pro.”
With Harmon and Black joining the Steelers’ defensive line, things are getting crowded in the room. The Steelers also signed Daniel Ekuale, Esezi Otomewo and Isaiahh Loudermilk in the off-season. They should get DeMarvin Leal back healthy this season, too.
Competition will be huge in the room. It’ll be interesting to see how things develop within the group under coach Karl Dunbar.
