Derrick Harmon’s first meeting with Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was all over the place. At the NFL Combine, Harmon had a formal interview with the Steelers, but it was not his first interview that day.
Harmon mistakenly went into the Steelers’ meeting room with a lot of energy and anticipation to meet Tomlin and the Steelers. But he had to walk right back out and head to another interview.
“Actually, my first visit, I think like everyone in that room was right next to each other. I ran into (the) Pittsburgh interview. I shake everybody’s hand, like, ‘How are y’all doing?’ I’m like overamped to do this interview. He’s like. ‘Nice to meet you, I love your energy, but listen, this is not you’re first meeting. Go ahead, come back with that same energy.’ That was my second interview. That was my first encounter,” Harmon said
So, when they actually ended up meeting, Tomlin and Harmon never even talked about football but life. That came once again when Harmon flew to Pittsburgh for a pre-draft visit, where he could feel the type of character Tomlin was daily.
“And then when I did have my first formal interview with him. We just sat down and chopped it up, dude. We didn’t even talk about ball. Just chopped it up. Learned about my background. (He’s) talking about his background. Like you can sit down and have a two-hour conversation with Coach T. And that’s what I really like about him. You can sit down, don’t got to talk ball, just talk about life with him,” Harmon said on ‘Not Just Football’ with Cam Heyward.
Harmon was flagged with a shoulder injury before the NFL Draft, which caused some teams to back off him. Ole Miss’ Walter Nolen and Michigan’s Kenneth Grant went ahead of the Oregon product, who started his collegiate career at Michigan State.
That shoulder injury involves a partially torn rotator cuff and a torn labrum, which could require surgery. However, it is not expected to affect his availability this season.
Harmon has not missed a game in three seasons while playing college football at Michigan State and Oregon. So, this would be an out-of-left-field medical concern.
In Indianapolis, Harmon stood at 6-foot-4, weighing in at 313 pounds. Harmon ran a 4.95 40-yard dash with a 1.74 10-yard split, both great numbers for his size.
One NFL scout told NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein that Harmon reminds me a lot of Heyward.
“He plays like a Raven or a Steeler. Off the tape, he reminds me of a young Cam Heyward but bigger,” the scout told Zierlein.
This year, Harmon had five sacks and 11 tackles for loss. In his collegiate career, Harmon posted 8.5 sacks and 18 tackles for loss.