How big a jump will Derrick Harmon make in his second season?
Second-year DL Derrick Harmon is arguably one of the most consequential draft picks the Steelers have made in recent years. A first-round pick in 2025, he is the heir apparent to Cam Heyward, who is still kicking, for the moment. But sooner or later, Pittsburgh will need Harmon to be the next Heyward of that line.
It’s a tall order, and an unrealistic one, of course. But they need him to come as close as he can—that’s why they drafted him. Derrick Harmon is the future of that room, but he must also be the present. He already showed his potential as a rookie, amid injuries, no less. But beginning this season, they need him to start putting it all together.
As a rookie, Derrick Harmon logged 446 snaps, but in only 12 games. He missed five games due to injury, logging a 54-percent share of the playing time in the games he did play. During that time, he recorded 27 tackles, 1 for loss, with 3 sacks and 1 pass defensed. In the Steelers’ playoff loss, he added another 6 tackles and 1 sack.
That’s a sample of the type of production they expect from him. But can he take his game to another level? With a new coaching staff, Harmon’s new defensive line coach is interesting. It’s Domata Peko, a former NFL DT who is still fairly new to the coaching ranks. While he has the player pedigree, does he have the chops to coach up a young talent like this? Mike McCarthy and DC Patrick Graham obviously think so, or he wouldn’t be here. But it is a lot to ask, given how important Harmon is to the Steelers’ future.
Of course, they also drafted three offensive tackles in the first round in the past four years. And two years before they drafted Cam Heyward in the first round, they did the same with Ziggy Hood. The Steelers may even need another stud sooner than later, even assuming Harmon is everything they expect him to be. One thing that’s hard to come by in the NFL is an overabundance of quality defensive line depth.
The Steelers have a long road ahead of them under Mike McCarthy, along with his cadre of quarterbacks. With seven consecutive postseason losses and no wins in nearly a decade, they are under fire for their repeated playoff failures. While we have seen many changes, none could dream of topping Mike Tomlin’s resignation.
We’re already deep into the offseason, with free agency and the draft already reshaping rosters. The Steelers, of course, are used to early offseason mode as a team that loses by the middle of January all the time. Enjoy the ride, even the turbulence, because it’s the only way we know how to travel anymore.