Derrick Harmon had a solid, if injury-plagued, rookie season, but the Steelers’ latest first-round pick is fired up this offseason. While the NFL is what he expected, he knows better what is required to live up to those standards. In particular, he is excited about having a full year following the gauntlet incoming rookies face annually.

“For me, I’ve got a real offseason. So, I am going to attack it,” Harmon told Chris Adamski at the end of the season, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Of course, he’ll be doing so with a new coaching staff. Mike Tomlin resigned, replaced by Mike McCarthy. DC Teryl Austin gave way to Patrick Graham. His defensive line coach is now Domata Peko, who played as recently as 2020.

Selected 21st overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, Derrick Harmon performed ably during his rookie season. An injury delayed his debut, forcing him to miss the first two games of the season. But he recorded a sack in his first game, finishing the year with 3 overall. He also recorded 27 tackles, 1 for loss, and 1 pass defensed. Harmon added a fourth sack in Pittsburgh’s Wild Card loss to the Texans. And he learned a lot about himself and where he fits along the way.

“I feel like the (NFL) is very transparent. You’ve gotta play your best ball,” Adamski quoted Harmon as saying. “There’s a lot of elite guys at this level. It was everything I thought it would be coming in.”

But it’s one thing to have high expectations of your opponents and another to be able to match them. Still, he insisted that he knows what the league and the Steelers expect of him.

“Now it’s a matter of working on those things over the offseason and coming back prepared,” he said.

Derrick Harmon put a lot of quality snaps on film, but he is the first to admit he’s growing. “Nothing’s ever perfect,” he said, noting the “little things” he has to clean up to “take that next step.” The Steelers are counting on it, because he’s the closest thing they have to a sure thing for the future.

With Cam Heyward nearly aging himself out of the league, the Steelers have been preparing for the future. Derrick Harmon is a part of that future. We may find out this offseason how this Steelers regime feels about Keeanu Benton as another piece of the puzzle. Entering his fourth season, he is in a contract year, so he is theoretically due for an extension.

Along with Harmon, the Steelers also drafted Yahya Black in the fifth round last year. Black showed promise, but his future may be at nose tackle, even though he played end more last season. However it works out, they’re putting pieces together, with Derrick Harmon front and center for the future.