The No. 1 precedence for NFL groups within the preseason is to get out of the video games with out main harm. The Pittsburgh Steelers might have failed with that one on Thursday night time towards the Carolina Panthers.
Defensive lineman Derrick Harmon, the workforce’s first-round decide within the 2025 NFL Draft, needed to be carted to the locker room with a knee harm whereas additionally trying visibly upset as he was taken again. The workforce introduced nearly instantly that he can be out for the rest of the sport with a knee harm.
Head coach Mike Tomlin had no quick replace at halftime, solely to say Harmon was nonetheless being evaluated.
Line of defense was a prime precedence for the Steelers this offseason, particularly after their playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens the place they allowed practically 300 speeding yards to finish their season.
Together with Harmon, additionally they chosen Iowa’s Yahya Black on this 12 months’s class to assist attempt to beef up their line.
Harmon is anticipated to play a serious position on this 12 months’s protection and was already in a beginning place. With star defensive lineman Cameron Heyward holding in as he tries to get a brand new contract from the workforce, that places much more significance on Harmon’s capacity to make an impression.
He has had a powerful coaching camp, and after a quiet first preseason recreation, he actually took an enormous leap ahead within the workforce’s second recreation, recording a sack towards the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If Heyward returns, and if Harmon’s harm shouldn’t be critical, the Steelers would have the potential to have a extremely robust line of defense with these two becoming a member of rising star Keeanu Benton. Proper now, although, these are lots of “ifs,” particularly because it pertains to the supply for Heyward and Harmon for the workforce’s season opener.
