DB’s Scouting Report: What Are Steelers Getting in Derrick Harmon?
If there’s anything that we’ve learned in recent years, it’s that the Pittsburgh Steelers front office is all in on the idea of building through the trenches. Since general manager Omar Khan and assistant general Andy Weidl stepped into their respective positions, we’ve seen the franchise snatch up offensive tackles Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu in back to back drafts. This year, it was the defense’s turn to add some firepower as the Steelers selected defensive tackle Derrick Harmon with the 21st pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Thursday night certainly provided some fireworks in addition to other surprises, but this is one pairing that didn’t exactly come out of left field. Pittsburgh met with him formally at the NFL Combine before having him in for a top-30 visit to the facility. The latter footnote has become particularly notable seeing as there’s been such a strong correlation between visitors and selections over the past three years. Even aside from the visible interest, he checks many boxes for what the team typically covets at this position.
After three dormant seasons at Michigan State, Harmon transferred to Oregon in 2024 and broke out in a massive way. He notched a career-high five sacks and 11 tackles for loss, while also registering 55 pressures which was most in the FBS amongst interior defensive lineman. Harmon finished as the 22nd ranked player on my 2025 NFL Draft big board with an early-second round grade.
So, what exactly are the Pittsburgh Steelers getting with their most recent investment?
DERRICK HARMON SCOUTING REPORT
The physical profile is a selling point with him, he’s got a sturdy base at 313 pounds with an 84-inch wingspan (90th-percentile). In the Ducks defense, he played all over their front anywhere from a zero-technique all the way out to a five-technique with his primary home being over the B-gap. He has a solid first step off the ball, enough to get on the edges of blockers early in the rep. His go-to pass rush move is the club-rip, but had some wins with a two-hand swipe.
His hand usage is an asset because of how precise his strikes are; he knows how to target blockers’ elbows and wrists to discard them and give himself an advantage. Oregon’s system was very stunt heavy and his skill set was a big reason why their front was so disruptive. He’s awesome on games, willing to eject his body into blockers as the crasher and has enough foot speed to be an effective looper up the field.
Harmon’s an instinctual player that can be relied upon against the run from day one for some of these same reasons. He’s very strong in his upper body and is a difficult dude to move off his spot. His long arms and heavy hands allow him to make first significant contact, access the frame of his opponent and reset the line of scrimmage with tight hand placement. Harmon has excellent lock-peek-shed technique and does a nice job keeping his eyes in the backfield to locate the oncoming ball carrier.
His thick lower half gives him quality anchoring ability, teams didn’t have a ton of success attacking him with double teams and he even split a few of those the games I studied which was impressive. We know how much hustle matters to the Steelers on the defensive side of the ball and unsurprisingly, that’s a positive in Harmon’s scouting report. He generates plenty of pressures by not quitting on the play and will attempt to chase down ball carriers away from his gap. All of these attributes explain why Pittsburgh was so bullish on selecting him, but there is no such thing as a perfect prospect. There are some weaknesses that will have to be worked around, but with that being said, a few tweaks could potentially take his game to another level.
Like most college prospects, Harmon’s pass rush plan is still a work in progress. There are occasions where he’ll flash a secondary counter but more often, there’s a slight delay in which that takes place and quicker sequencing will lead to more wins in isolation. Harmon is strong but his power moves aren’t all that effective for a couple reasons. You’ll see him prematurely lock out on his long-arm move, sapping his power while also giving the offensive lineman an easy target to chop down and throw him off balance. His pad level is naturally better out of a four-point stance but his get-off is quicker out of a three-point stance, leaving for a conundrum between styles. When he’s able to get under a guy’s pads, he can push the pocket; it’s just about whether he can win the leverage battle more consistently at his height.
Harmon is a skilled player with some athletic limitations. His hips are fairly stiff, causing him to get run up the arc and he struggles to gear down, come to balance and change directions quickly to make stops in the backfield because of it. This is mostly where the alarming 27% missed tackle rate comes from. He also lacks the ideal lower body flexibility to bend through contact and turn his hips to the quarterback when blockers are able to get latched on to him. In the games that I studied, he was guilty of getting reached at times when working laterally on zone rushing concepts. Some of that was better athletes beating him to the spot but he’s also late getting into his stance on occasion, leading to him being late off the ball.
Overall, this is a selection that makes a ton of sense for the Steelers from a fit and value standpoint at this stage in the first round. There’s no such thing as a bust-proof prospect but even at the risk of getting put on old takes exposed, I struggle to see a reality in which Harmon isn’t a useful player up front. Even if he’s more disruptive than productive, he’s not a prospect that I see having an insanely wide range of outcomes. His lack of overwhelming athletic traits likely prevents him from ever being one of the best players at his position but he feels very safe while being a player that can contribute right away.
Given the Steelers current landscape at the position and the current state of his skill set, I would expect him to compete and ultimately win the starting job out of training camp. Harmon should become a good starting defensive tackle during his rookie contract, with potential to become a defensive pillar for the franchise for years to come.