If you're wondering what the Pittsburgh Steelers have in store for Derrick Harmon during his rookie season, Cam Heyward is here to answer your questions. On his Not Just Football Podcast, the All-Pro defensive lineman talked about his new teammate and his role sounds like, well... exactly what Heyward is doing.
Heyward beamed when talking about Harmon's versatility, and said the rookie will play five-technique, four-tech, and three-tech for the Steelers.
“Derrick Harmon, really good football player, even better person. I think everybody’s got a chance to hear his story. I like the way he plays on the field,” Heyward said on Not Just Football. “He can play a five-technique, a three-technique, a four-technique, good hands, good acceleration, and I think he’s only going to continue to just keep getting better. So I think we really lucked out with that, getting a guy like that early in the draft.”
If we're reading between the lines here, Heyward's comments say it all. It was suspected that Harmon would be the player groomed to take Heyward's place. While some NFL Draft analysts claimed Harmon would serve best in a three-technique role, his versatility for Pittsburgh will be as advertised.
This means that, in the Steelers' base 3-4 defense, it will be Harmon who slides out to 3-4 end opposite Heyward. This also tells us that Benton will remain Pittsburgh's starting nose tackle in base defense before being utilized in sub-packages.
During NFL Combine interviews, Harmon claimed he could play everything from zero-tech to five-tech. While his versatility knows no bounds, it doesn't look like the first-round rookie will have to man the nose tackle position for Pittsburgh.
This became abundantly clear after the Steelers doubled up on defensive tackles with Yahya Black in the fifth round. At 6'5 3/4'' and 336 pounds, Black is a run-defense specialist who is expected to work at the nose tackle position, further decreasing the need for Harmon to play in this role.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a talented trio on the interior defensive line with Derrick Harmon
Since the sudden retirement of Stephon Tuitt, who played his final NFL snaps at 27 years old, the Steelers have been lacking talent to pair with Cameron Heyward. In the 2023 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Keeanu Benton in the second round. But that still only left the defense with two respectable interior defenders
Now, Pittsburgh has a true trio of defensive tackles that will feed off each other and make opposing offensive lines clueless on how to go about stopping them. With T.J. Watt still going strong off the edge, offenses can't double everyone.
Just doing some simple math, it's likely that two of Heyward, Benton, and Harmon will be single-blocked at any given time. This will create ample opportunities and mismatches to get after the quarterback.
Derrick Harmon's versatility will be a treat, and it's largely what attracted the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Oregon defensive lineman in the first place. Based on how Cam Heyward described his exciting new teammate, it certainly sounds like Harmon is going to be used just like Heyward as early as his rookie season.