It was something of a controversial pick at the time, but the Pittsburgh Steelers may have found themselves a day-one starter in DT Derrick Harmon. Pittsburgh used the No. 21 overall pick on the former Oregon star to accentuate their play in the trenches. At the time, I thought they should have gone with a quarterback, as opposed to drafting Cameron Heyward's replacement in the NFL Draft.
However, it seems as though Harmon is well on track to be the team's starting defensive tackle alongside Heyward . Steelers defensive line coach Karl Dunbar said as much: "He goes out there with the 1s. He's our left starting defensive tackle. You can write that." ESPN's Brooke Pryor mentioned that Pittsburgh rarely tabs its rookies to be starters this early in the offseason, but Harmon is different.
Harmon told Pryor that the Steelers use the same defensive scheme he was used to over at Oregon.
"I feel, like, comfortable. [At] Oregon, we had the same defense, so I'm playing the same-for-same position. Biggest difference for me is really just learning the speed of the game."
If Pittsburgh is able to make it back into the AFC playoffs, it will be because their defense is amazing. Harmon shoring up what was an increasingly leaky run defense will go a long way toward that goal.
Derrick Harmon is well on his way to being Steelers' next defensive star
The goal for the Steelers this season is for the offense to match the level of greatness we have seen in recent years out of the defense. If the defense holds up, and the offense is markedly better, we could be looking at a team with an outside shot of getting to the Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback. While it may be in their ethos, great defense year over year is so hard to sustain.
The good news is Harmon will have a great mentor to learn from in Heyward, as well as knowing what it takes to be great at this level, should T.J. Watt stick with this team beyond even this season. Given that Mike Tomlin is a defensive-minded head coach, much like Dan Lanning is over at Oregon, this works in Harmon's favor to get the most out of his talent. I understand why this pick was made.
If there is anything I like and respect the most about the Steelers' football culture, it is that they very rarely feed their defensive rookies to the wolves. There are systems in place where these former college stars can grow into their roles. Again, not everyone is built to be great in the NFL, but the Steelers do a better job than most teams in helping out their defensive players. Offense, not so much.
Harmon seems like a player who will be able to usher in another era of Steelers greatness on defense.