2 weeks Ago By Tim Benz
When it comes to the first round of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 NFL Draft, not since “ The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults ” has so much pre-event suspense resulted in such limited surprise on live television. Unlike how things turned out for Gerlado Rivera , though, that’s probably a good thing for the Steelers’ franchise and their fans. Ever since Shedeur Sanders’ name really started to swirl in the sphere of Steelers draft speculation two weeks ago, the local club was at the nationwide center of pre-draft hype.
Would the Steelers take the Colorado quarterback? Would they take Ole Miss signal caller Jaxson Dart instead? Would they trade back to get more picks for running backs and defensive linemen to justify taking a QB in Round 1? Would they trade away George Pickens? Would they trade for Kirk Cousins? For the love of all things holy, would Aaron Rodgers finally sign his contract?! Nope. None of those things happened on Thursday. All the Steelers did was stay put at pick No.
21 and draft a defensive lineman. Exactly as they should’ve done all along. After roughly 2 hours, 20 minutes of waiting, the Steelers were blissfully boring and finally selected Oregon defensive lineman Derrick Harmon.
“The phone was ringing and we were having some serious (trade) conversations,” general manager Omar Khan said moments after the pick. “But at the end of the day, once Derrick was there, we were excited. It was an easy choice for us.
” Three other interior defensive linemen were picked in the first 20 picks in Round 1, making any chance of the Steelers trading down more difficult if they wanted to assure themselves of a top-notch player in the trenches. After being pushed around up front late last season, that is precisely what the Steelers needed. Harmon can potentially be a replacement for Larry Ogunjobi this year and perhaps become a long-term successor to 35-year-old Cameron Heyward if he retires in the near future.
I’m sure the Steelers were at least tempted to engineer a trade down in the first round to attempt to acquire an additional pick this year. But the organization hasn’t done that since 2001. As Khan and coach Mike Tomlin suggested Tuesday, that’s something this team is rarely willing to consider when a player it covets is sitting there on draft night.
Such was the case with Harmon. “For us, it starts inside and up front. This is a guy who is capable of dominating in that space against the run and the pass,” Tomlin said.
“We are really excited about having him. We weren’t interested in trading away from him.” I’m also sure the Steelers were flirting with the idea of taking Sanders or Dart, given they only have two quarterbacks on the current roster.
Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed as the Steelers realized the big picture upside and immediate potential of Harmon was greater than what those two are likely to provide at a position that’s too important to fumble for a second first-round pick in four years. However, when presented with the notion of taking a quarterback at No. 21 after the fact, Khan abruptly dismissed the topic.
“We were on the clock. We got the player that we wanted,” Khan said. The only items Geraldo found in Capone’s vault were a few empty bottles used for “moonshine bathtub gin.
” Khan and Tomlin should toast each other with something a little bit better than that after taking Harmon. This was the right move, all other temptations aside. LISTEN: Tim Benz and Matt Williamson talk about Derrick Harmon and the rest of the defensive lineman in this year’s NFL Draft class .
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