Today, I wanted to look at the other side of the coin to Derrick Harmon’s best college stats. It’s rarely 100 percent sunshine and rainbows for any rookie coming into the NFL, and the goal of this article is to see what Harmon will be looking to clean up in the next chapter of his football journey.
One element that sticks out negatively from his 2024 campaign with Oregon was missed tackles. Here is a visual of total missed tackle rates and run defense missed tackle rate, including all drafted defensive linemen to gain context:
As you probably expected from the opening, Harmon lands well below average among his drafted peers. In totality, Harmon had a 27.0 total missed tackle rate in the 2024 regular season, second-worst in the DL class (31 qualifiers). While a 20.7 run defense missed tackle rate looks a bit better, that landed at third-most.
This is no doubt one of the biggest elements that Harmon will hopefully clean up sooner rather than later, which would balance the high level of traits and potential he’s displayed as both a pass rusher and run defender.
In comparison, the Steelers’ fifth round pick, Yahya Black, lands on the desired top right of the visual with a third-best 7.5 total missed tackle rate, along with just 5.7 against the run (10th). That is encouraging, and seeing the majority of the results re-emphasizes the concern and hope that Harmon will be better.
Optimistically, he will post numbers more similar to his final 2023 season in Michigan State, with a 12.2 total missed tackle rate and 10.3 run missed tackle rate. Those marks would have ranked 14th and 18th among 2025 draft picks, so not awe inspiring, but much better.
But previously in 2022, his first season with substantial snaps, missed tackles were also an issue with an 18.5 total missed tackle rate. A matching number in run defense missed tackle rate highlights it was a specific issue against the run that year, not exactly what you want to hear in the Steel City with the wheels coming off in this regard at the end of 2024.
Stats are just one piece of the puzzle, but the picture they paint points to this perhaps being an issue fans might need to prep for in a whole different animal that is the NFL.
One other issue I would like to touch on were penalties:
Harmon clearly was one of the most penalized defensive linemen of the group, with five in the 2024 regular and postseason. One was very costly in the playoffs, and it’s an area he even recently admitted he must work on.
Unfortunately, it’s been a growing issue for Harmon: two penalties in 2022, four in 2023 and five in 2024. It’s on his radar, as he recently said it’s unacceptable. If he can clean this up, along with his tackling, it could turn out to be quite the rookie year for Harmon. If not, it could be more of the same feelings for the Steelers as the end-of-year crumble that was 2024.
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