It wasn’t the flashiest draft class by any means for the Pittsburgh Steelers coming out of the 2025 NFL Draft, but it was a practical one. The selections addressed some major needs for the Black and Gold and have things looking up in the trenches on defense.
The selections of defensive linemen Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black, and the addition of outside linebacker Jack Sawyer has helped make what already was a strength of the franchise, that being the defensive front, into a unit even stronger for the foreseeable future.
That’s how NFL.com’s Gennaro Filice sees things.
In his rookie draft class grades for all 32 teams, Filice gave the Steelers a ‘B’ grade and ranked Pittsburgh 17th in the league, four spots higher than CBS Sports graded Pittsburgh’s draft class earlier in the week.
“As a franchise that’s long been defined by its defensive front seven, Pittsburgh looked to fortify that group with three of its first four picks last April. None of the selections emerged as certified stars in Year 1, but all three appear poised to keep the Steelers’ strength a strength in seasons to come,” Filice writes of the Steelers’ draft class. “Multiple knee injuries limited Derrick Harmon to 12 games, but when he played, the first-round pick displayed disruptive ability from the interior.
“Jack Sawyer and Yahya Black were used in more rotational roles, but both flashed playmaking ability.”
Though Harmon’s knee injuries were no doubt frustrating, as they caused him to miss five total games with two separate injuries, when he was on the field, he was a force for the Steelers.
The performance he had in Week 16 against the Detroit Lions and All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell showed just how bright his future is. He’s a powerful player in the trenches, one who plays with sound technique and can dominate at the point of attack.
He started to come on strong late in the year as a pass rusher, too, showing the potential he had at Oregon in that department after leading college football with 55 interior pressures in 2024. The future looks very bright for Harmon in 2026 and beyond.
It looks bright for Black and Sawyer, too. Black played 445 snaps last season, including the playoffs, serving as a key rotational piece up and down the line of scrimmage. He stayed healthy much of the season and really took off from a development standpoint, showing his ability to anchor well against the run and control the point of attack.
As for Sawyer, he was a luxury pick at the time in the fourth round behind T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig, but injuries thrust him into a larger role down the stretch, and the former Ohio State star thrived. He had a big interception in Week 17 against the Cleveland Browns and then had a strip-sack in the playoff loss against the Texans. He was a valuable piece on special teams, too, and looks like a key rotational piece moving forward.
The only real issue with the draft class was the swing in the third round on running back Kaleb Johnson. He touched the ball just 29 times on offense and looked slow and lacking explosive movements.
“Pittsburgh also attempted to add more juice to its ground attack by snagging Kaleb Johnson in the middle of Round 3. That pick did not bear fruit, as the rookie’s most memorable play was a brain fart in the return game that swung momentum in the fourth quarter of a Week 2 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks,” Filice writes.
At the time of his selection, he felt like a perfect fit for former offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s zone running scheme. But once on the field in NFL action, he just looked slow, more like a plodder rather than the home run threat he showed he was in the Big Ten with the Hawkeyes.
Now, with Mike McCarthy overseeing the offense and a new running backs coach in the mix, it remains to be seen what Johnson’s future looks like. Right now, the arrow is pointing down, and that’s concerning for a third-round pick that never made any headway in his first season.
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