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Derrick Harmon Thought Steelers Were Drafting A Quarterback Instead Of Him

By Josh Carney

Posted on May 20, 2025 at 9:15 am

Leading up to the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, there was a ton of buzz regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers and a quarterback at No. 21 overall, whether that was Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart or even Alabama’s Jalen Milroe.

That buzz had Derrick Harmon, a popular name paired with Pittsburgh in mock drafts, believing that he wouldn’t be going to the Steelers because they were going to draft a quarterback. But All-Pro Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward knew the Steelers were going to target the player who models his game after Heyward.

On the latest episode of the “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” podcast, Harmon told Heyward he really believed he wouldn’t land in Pittsburgh due to its need at quarterback. But Heyward made clear he knew all along that the team was targeting the Oregon standout, and that it wasn’t going quarterback in the first round.

Now, Harmon is a Steeler and Heyward gets a chance to work with him early in his career.

“No, I thought y’all were going to come quarterback first. I did, I did. I kept seeing it,” Harmon said of the belief the Steelers were going to pass on him, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “So once I seen [I was picked] I was surprised, but I was happy, ’cause I came on my 30 visit, and Coach T[omlin] and Omar [Khan], they was just nothing but love and showing nothing but love to me, and telling me, like ‘If you there, we going to get you’ but you never know how the draft will go, ’cause the draft can go either way.”

There was a lot of buzz about quarterback and the Steelers in the first round, which really came on strong late in the pre-draft process. The buzz really intensified after Sanders was a pre-draft visitor and Tomlin spoke highly of the quarterback during the pre-draft press conference with the media.

To that point, the Steelers still hadn’t heard one way or another from 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers and had just two quarterbacks on the roster entering the draft in Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson. So, the dots were starting to connect and the stars were aligning that a quarterback could be the move in the first round of the draft.

It wasn’t meant to be, though, and the Steelers made the smart selection in Harmon, beefing up the trenches and giving Pittsburgh another building block up front defensively.

Heyward did not have any doubt that Harmon would end up with the Steelers.

“Oh I knew,” Heyward said of the Steelers selecting Harmon and passing on a QB. “They were talking to me. They were like ‘they like this one’ and so it was if you [were] going to be available to us, and I knew we weren’t taking a quarterback.”

Though Harmon thought the Steelers were going quarterback in the first round, the interest in him was real right from the jump for the Steelers, who held a formal meeting with him at the NFL Combine and then hosted him for an official 30 visit before the draft.

Those boxes checked turned into Harmon becoming a Steeler at No. 21 overall. Harmon brings great physicality, size and athleticism to the trenches, and projects to be the Steelers’ next building block along their defensive line.

Harmon had an outstanding year at Oregon in 2024, leading the FBS in pressures for an interior defensive lineman and checking a lot of the boxes the Steelers look for at the position.

The Harmon pick at No. 21 overall was largely praised as the Steelers landed a big, physical piece to help rebuild the defensive line. That he models his game after Heyward and has similar traits is just icing on the top.

Ultimately, it all worked out in the end and the excitement is real regarding Harmon and the impact he’ll have in Pittsburgh. The Steelers deployed a great smoke screen on the QB position, and ultimately landed the guy they targeted all along, pairing Harmon with Heyward moving forward.

Hopefully the addition of Harmon helps shore up some of the run defense issues the Steelers had late in the 2024 season.

Check out the full episode of “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” and the interview with Harmon below.