The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June and next up is the team’s annual training camp, which will get underway in the latter part of July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of that, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time. This Steelers roster preview, which includes an outlook for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.
The next three players we will preview ahead of Steelers 2025 training camp are Derrick Harmon, Devin Harper, and Malik Harrison.
DT Derrick Harmon: The Steelers selected Harmon in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft out of Oregon and that marked the first time the team has picked a defensive lineman in the first round since Cameron Heyward in 2011.
Harmon started his college career at Michigan State in 2021 and played three years there before transferring to Oregon in 2024. For his college career, Harmon played in 42 games on his way to registering 116 combined tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, six passes defensed, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries.
Harmon played up and down the defensive line while in college with a large majority of his snaps coming with him lined up in the B gap. He projects to be a defensive end in the Steelers’ system and used similarly to the way Heyward has been used most of his NFL career. Harmon was continuously comped as a younger version of Heyward throughout the pre-draft process.
At the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, Harmon measured in at 6044, 313-pounds with 34 3/8-inch arms and 10 3/8-inch hands. He ran his 40-yard dash in 4.95-seconds at the Combine.
Outlook: With Harmon being a first-round selection this year, we should expect him to get a lot of playing time right out of the chute. In fact, Harmon might very well wind up being a starter on the Steelers’ defensive line once the regular season gets underway.
One of the major hits on Harmon as he enters the NFL is that he could have finished more sacks and tackles for loss throughout his college career. He did come into his own more as a pass rusher at Oregon and seems to have room for even more development in that phase of his game.
Harmon must be a sound run defender for the Steelers right from the start. There is room for improvement in that part of his defensive game as well, especially when it comes to him not missing tackles.
Harmon should be expected to play a high volume of defensive snaps in his first NFL season, one that will hopefully end with him winning the team’s annual Joe Greene Great Performance Award, which is presented annually by Pittsburgh Chapter of Pro Football Writers of America to the Steelers’ top rookie.
ILB Devin Harper: Selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma State, Harper spent all of the 2024 season with the Steelers as a member of their practice squad. Since being drafted, Harper has been a member of the Cincinnati Bengals in addition to the Cowboys and Steelers.
Achilles tendinitis essentially wiped out Harper’s 2022 rookie season. He spent most of that season on the Cowboys’ Reserve/Injured list.
For his NFL career to date, Harper has appeared in 12 games with his last action coming in 2023. An inside linebacker, Harper has logged all of four defensive snaps in regular-season play and 195 more on special teams.
Three of Harper’s five total NFL tackles have come on special teams.
Outlook: For myriad reasons, Harper will have an extremely tough time making the team’s 53-man roster this summer. The Steelers have a very full inside linebacker depth chart, first and foremost, and it includes Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson, Cole Holcomb, Malik Harrison, Mark Robinson, and rookie draft pick Carson Bruener.
While he was on the Steelers’ practice squad all of last season, Harper was never elevated for any regular-season games and not even for special teams purposes. He also only has limited NFL game action so far with most of his playing time coming on special teams, and thus not on defense.
Realistically, Harper is likely competing for a spot on the Steelers’ practice squad this summer. If, however, he has a solid training camp and preseason on defense and special teams, and especially the latter, that will at least help his 53-man roster cause to some degree.
At most, the Steelers will likely keep five inside linebackers on their 53-man roster this year. Harper will have his work cut out for him when it comes to landing one of those spots. The practice squad makes a lot more sense for him.
ILB Malik Harrison: The Steelers signed Harrison to a two-year, $10 million contract in March, and he was given a $4.08 million signing bonus as part of the deal, the only guaranteed money in it. Harrison’s 2025 salary cap charge will be just $3.21 million.
Selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Ohio State, Harrison has registered 174 total regular-season tackles along with one pass defensed, two sacks, and four quarterback hits. He has logged 1,252 defensive snaps and 1,558 more snaps on special teams in regular-season action. He has also started 34 games since entering the NFL with his first five seasons being spent in Baltimore.
Harrison has mostly played inside linebacker in the NFL, but he does have some limited experience rushing off the edge. He did, however, miss 12 tackles in 2024 as a member of the Ravens and has 24 of those for his NFL career. In coverage for his NFL career to date, Harrison has allowed 59 receptions for 680 yards and five touchdowns on 70 targets in regular-season contests, according to Pro Football Focus. He is a better run defender than he is a coverage player.
Outlook: The Steelers did not re-sign ILB Elandon Roberts this offseason so Harrison will likely be asked to fill some of those vacated snaps on defense. Obviously, Queen will be one starter on the inside and likely an every-down player. Wilson is likely to see his defensive playing time increase in his second NFL season, so he and Harrison are likely to jockey for weekly snaps with down, distance, and situation playing a big role in that.
Harrison is more of a downhill player, a thumper, so to speak, and thus could see most of his 2025 defensive playing time against the run and on early downs. All told, Harrison could log around 300 defensive snaps in 2025 and maybe even more than that should injuries hit the inside linebacker position. Harrison is likely to log quite a few special teams snaps in 2025 as well, and he could wind up being a core player for those units.
At the very least, Harrison is expected to make the 53-man roster later this summer and then go on to dress every game that he is healthy enough to play in. It will be interesting to see if Holcomb also makes the 53-man roster this year as his skill set is somewhat similar to Harrison’s.
Previous Posts In This Series:
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Calvin Anderson, Spencer Anderson, Calvin Austin III
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Keeanu Benton, Beanie Bishop Jr., Yahya Black
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Chris Boswell, Nick Broeker, Carson Bruener
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Sebastian Castro, Dylan Cook, Domenique Davis
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Brandin Echols, Daniel Ekuale, DeShon Elliott
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Troy Fautanu, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Zach Frazier
90 In 30: Steelers 2025 Training Camp Preview Series — Pat Freiermuth, Kenneth Gainwell, JJ Galbreath
