Pittsburgh Steelers fans woke up with mixed reactions to their team's top draft choice. Many were on board with the organization turning their card in for Derrick Harmon, a big, athletic defensive lineman who offers hope when Cameron Heyward eventually retires. Meanwhile, the rest of the fanbase is furious about Pittsburgh passing on quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
If you are in the company of the latter, this rumor is going to sting even more.
The morning after Day 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft, Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan posted that Adam Crowley told him Harmon has a labrum injury that will eventually require surgery. This is not ideal for a player who has just been taken in the middle of the first round.
While we don't know how much truth there is to this report, this would seem to fall in line with the whispers before the NFL Draft, as Mike Garafolo of NFL Network confirmed that Harmon was dealing with a shoulder issue, and that these medical red flags could scare teams away in Round 1.
Now, the Pittsburgh Steelers have to hope Harmon's health doesn't become an issue that lingers down the road.
The Pittsburgh Steelers rolled the dice on another first-round pick with medical concerns
Having a labrum injury isn't the end of the world. Even if Derrick Harmon's shoulder does require surgery, the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking at the big picture here, and I applaud them for that. At the same time, general manager Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl have taken swings on players with medical red flags over the past two drafts, and it hasn't yet panned out.
With the 20th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Steelers confidently turned their card in for Washington offensive tackle Troy Fautanu. The 10th overall player on the NFL Draft Expert Consensus Board seemed too good to pass up at pick No. 20.
But there was a reason Fautanu slid in the first round. During the pre-draft process, Fautanu was flagged for a knee issue. This proved to be a problem. After Week 1 of the NFL season, Fautanu required season-ending knee surgery, ending his rookie campaign before it even got off the ground.
In 2023, the Steelers took a late-round gamble on Cory Trice Jr., who had a scary medical history in college. Already, Trice missed the entire 2023 season with a torn ACL and missed most of the 2024 season with a severe hamstring issue. Meanwhile, 2024 third-round linebacker Payton Wilson, who's been playing football without an ACL in one knee, is a ticking time bomb when it comes to his health.
Oftentimes, injured players stay injured. The good news in this case is that Harmon has almost no known injury history prior to being flagged for a shoulder issue. He could get this cleaned up and have no trouble with it at all. However, if this becomes a problem that forces him to miss time during the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers will think twice before running to the podium to draft a player with medical concerns.