Derrick Harmon

No. 99 · 2nd season

Harmon went 21st, then had to wait — that part's just starting

Getting picked in the first round means the football world expects something from you right away. Being the 21st player taken in the entire draft means the Pittsburgh Steelers are counting on you to anchor their defensive line for years. Derrick Harmon had all of that riding on him before he played a single snap.

Harmon came out of Oregon, a program that sent 10 players to the NFL in 2025 — a record for that school. Every one of those 10 made an opening-day roster. That's a class, not a coincidence, and Harmon was the headliner of it, a defensive tackle whose job is to occupy blockers, eat up space, and make everyone around him look better.

He did not play right away. That kind of wait at that kind of draft position is its own quiet pressure — the pick is public, the expectations are public, but the work to get on the field happens away from all of it.

First-round defensive tackles take time, and Pittsburgh clearly decided Harmon was worth the patience. Now comes the part where we find out if that call was right.

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Derrick Harmon

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