File – The Oregon defensive line player, Derrick Harmon, manages an exercise at the NFL Football Scouting combines in Indianapolis, Thursday, February 27, 2025. (AP photo / Michael Conroy, file)
By Will Graves AP Sports Writer
Pittsburgh (AP) – The Pittsburgh steelers entered the draft of the NFL with a very real need in a quarter. They left it in the same way, except for having taken a late leaflet on the former star of the Ohio State Will Howard.
And although this decision sent a very public touch to the free agent Aaron Rodgers which he can arise at any time, this also allowed the Steelers to set up a draft class that they believe in tenacity, which missed them unusually during a skid of five games to finish the 2024 season.
“We wanted to reorganize physicality in all areas,” said head coach Mike Tomlin.
Pittsburgh added 650 pounds along the defensive line in the first round Derrick Harmon and the fifth round Yahya Black. In the third round, they recovered the ball carrier Kaleb Johnson, hoping that he could add an explosive element to an racing game that Najee Harris, for all his durability, did not do. In the fourth, they caught the secondary outside the Ohio State Jack Sawyer, who may not need long to carve a niche in the rotation behind TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith.
“You will realize that these guys have Steelers DNA,” said Managing Director Omar Khan.
This includes the wide receiver DK Metcalf, which served as a replacement for the selection of the second Tour of Pittsburgh after the Steelers sent this choice to Seattle in exchange for Bowler double pro, which they quickly signed for a five -year extension.
Rather than generating headlines as he did three years ago when he reached the quarterrière Kenny Pickett in a convenience wedding that lasted the 24 departures, Pittsburgh opted for a more pragmatic path when he tries to find his path of his current purgatory to be often good but never big.
He has been approaching a decade since the Steelers won an post-season match. Their 2025 draft course may not pass them over on this particular short-term bump, but could lay the foundations for what the team could look like each time Pittsburgh finds a quarter-arre with which it is ready to settle.
Heart heavy for Harmon
Harmon underlined his mother Tiffany, like her director and described his journey to the NFL as one they walked together.
Shortly after having realized his dream when the Steelers selected it with the 21st choice in total, Harmon had to say goodbye to Saine, who died late Thursday evening after years of fighting of various health battles, including several brain surgeries.
The 21-year-old Harmon called one of the best moments in his life “soft-love”. It will not be missing that people rely at home or at work. He will join a defensive line that includes Heyward, the last defensive line player taken in the first round by Pittsburgh 14 years ago. All Heyward has done is to build a curriculum vitae worthy of the temple of potentially renown (Seven Pro Bowls, four all-Pro head sewers) while becoming a pillar in the community (2023 Walter Payton Man of the Year).
“It was my thought process after the call, that I was able to choose Cam’s brain, being under his wing,” said Harmon. “It could be my veterinarian now, and I can really learn from him, because he has always done this, because I was a baby. So (there) wouldn’t be otherwise that I really wanted.”
Where there is a will
The Steelers chose not to use one of their first choices on a quarter, waiting for the 185th selection to seize Howard, who led the Ohio State for the national title in January.
The native of the Philadelphia region admitted that the expectation of hearing his name called was scary before realizing “it is not when, where is”. He joined a group that – for the moment – includes Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson, who was a Howard teammate when the two were in Kansas State in 2020 and 2021.
Howard arrives by leaving the best football in his career during the Sprint of four Ohio State games through the PCF when he finished 75% of his passes and launched eight affected against two choices.
“He entered this role and took advantage of this opportunity on the largest scene in university football,” said the Steelers attacking coordinator Arthur Smith, about Howard. “Sometimes it is the mental part that wears the guys. He certainly proved that he has this part of his game.”
Count on Kaleb
The Steelers left Harris, a four -year starter, walking in a free agency. They believe that they may have found a more dynamic version in the 6-foot 1 inch and 225 pounds Johnson, which scored in each of the 12 games of Iowa last season without groping once.
Smith stressed that the Pittsburgh offensive must be more explosive which is under the center. Johnson has achieved more than 20 points of 20 yards or more last season with the Hawkeyes and will probably be fresher with the Steelers, where he will associate with Jaylen Warren.
What is the next step
Harmon, Howard, Johnson, Black and Sawyer as well as the seventh round Carson Bruener (secondary and son of the former tight wing of the Steelers Mark Bruener) and the Kent Kent Kent of the Central Michigan will report the minicamp recruit at the beginning of next month.
The veterans will join them when the activities of the organized team start at the end of May.
This group will probably still include the Large George Pickens recipient, which the team has chosen to keep when it is preparing to enter the last year of its recruit contract. That Rodgers be in the fold by then, it is the assumption of someone.
Tomlin has made a point of keeping a sense of a vague deadline and considering that Rodgers has few other options at this stage – just like the Steelers – it seems more a question of when Rodgers comes to Pittsburgh, and not yes.
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