Expectations are sky-high for Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Derrick Harmon entering his first season in the NFL. After being the No. 21 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft coming out of Oregon, Harmon is viewed as the key piece of the future for the Steelers along the defensive line.
Coming off a dominant season at Oregon in which he led the FBS in pressures (55) by an interior defensive lineman and flashed some impressive power – looking like a young Cameron Heyward – the fit with Pittsburgh was perfect.
During training camp in Latrobe, Harmon looked the part, with members of the organization raving about him. Then in the preseason opener on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he was rather quiet.
That changed Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Acrisure Stadium. Harmon, who played 23 snaps, was a force in the trenches. He used his hands well as a pass rusher and a run defender, flashed his power time and time again, and made an impact up front for Pittsburgh.
He also recorded his first-ever sack in the NFL, too, which was great to see. It was a small sample size, but it was impressive nonetheless. It has many excited for what Harmon could bring to the table as a rookie on the other side of Heyward and Keeanu Benton for the Black and Gold.
Let’s look at the film and dissect Harmon’s performance with some clips.
Right away on the first snap from scrimmage against the Buccaneers, Harmon flashed his hand usage and power. He landed a long-arm on Tampa Bay right guard Cody Mauch as a run defender, locking out and controlling Mauch at the point of attack, helping clog up the lane for running back Bucky Irving.
The length and the power were big calling cards with Harmon coming out of Oregon, and he put it on full display right there on the first snap of the game. Mauch is a very good right guard in the NFL, and Harmon toyed with him, locking him out and controlling the point of attack. That forced Irving to try and bounce back to the left and veteran safety Juan Thornhill flew downhill to blow it up.
Thornhill gets credited with the TFL, but Harmon had a hand in it, as did the rest of the defensive front.
Throughout the matchup against Tampa Bay, Harmon did a really nice job with his eyes as a run defender, being able to defend multiple gaps while still being able to have eyes in the backfield to find the football.
Harmon does a good job here initially of getting his hands inside on Tampa Bay center Elijah Klein, controlling him at the line of scrimmage. You can see Harmon trying to peek around the center while maintaining control. Then at the last second, he’s able to disengage and swallow up running back Sean Tucker for the run stop for a short gain.
The very next play, Harmon puts rookie guard Ben Scott on skates, leading to his first sack.
That is a remarkable display of power from Harmon. Lined up outside the tackle at the snap, Harmon is initially expected to tie up the blockers and clear a lane for outside linebacker Julius Welschof to loop around on the twist. But Harmon has other ideas, catching Scott on his heels.
His ability to convert speed to power here and bowl through a guard is eye-opening. Of course, Scott is an undrafted free agent and probably not long for the NFL, but that’s still a grown man across from him.
Harmon put him on skates immediately and finished off the sack. A very impressive pass rush from Harmon, which we hopefully can see more of this season.
After hitting the long-arm early in the game against Mauch, Harmon went back into this bag later in the game to pull it out, this time against guard Luke Haggard.
Keep an eye on Harmon’s right hand/arm here. He gets his hands into Haggard’s chest right after the snap, and that allows him to gain control quickly. From there, he gets his left hand/arm free by using his inside arm to lock out on Haggard, taking control at the point of attack.
Doing so allows him to stay free with his left arm, which leads to him doing the arm-over, getting inside for the run stop. Harmon looks like a young Cameron Heyward here, which should excite many. Some good technical football here from the rookie, which is very encouraging.
Late in the game, Harmon was charged with a missed tackle on this run from rookie running back Joshua Williams, but it was still an encouraging rep as run defender.
You can see Harmon lock out with both arms to keep the guard off of him, all the while keeping his eyes inside and peeking into the backfield to find the football.
As he sees Williams coming through the B gap, he’s able to shed the blocker and try for the tackle attempt, playing the run well. He just has to finish this rep. Unfortunately, it went for a gain of 10 yards and moved the chains, but the process of getting to the tackle attempt for Harmon was good.
On the night, Harmon finished with a grade of 68.8 overall, including a 67.7 against the run and a 60.7 rushing the passer. He generated one pressure and had the one sack. What hurt his grade was the 27.1 tackling grade due to the one missed tackle.
Through two preseason games with 55 snaps under his belt, Harmon sits at a 67.1 overall from PFF, including three pressures. Things look very promising moving forward for Harmon, and Saturday’s performance is a big part of that.
