Steelers second-year starter tabbed as potential breakout candidate following an up-and-down rookie season in Pittsburgh
Training Camp in Latrobe is just two weeks away at this point, meaning we will receive our first glimpse at who’s who on the Steelers roster, and The Athletic has already pegged one Steeler as a breakout candidate.
The Athletic released its 32 breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season, and Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Derrick Harmon earned the nod for Pittsburgh. The selection shouldn’t surprise anyone who watched the Steelers closely last season, because the difference between Pittsburgh’s defense with Harmon on the field and without him was staggering.
The truth is, the Steelers’ 2025 defense was a tale of two units, and it all came down to a rookie. That’s rare in the NFL. You rarely see a first-year player create that kind of disparity, but Harmon did exactly that. It’s just that availability is the best ability, and Harmon wasn’t exactly durable in his rookie campaign.
Derrick Harmon 2025 stats
- 27 total tackles.
- 3 sacks.
- 1 fumble recovery.
What Harmon brought to Pittsburgh’s defense as a rookie
When Harmon was healthy and going full speed, the Steelers’ interior defensive line was disruptive. He was creating plays in the backfield, racking up tackles for loss, and penetrating offensive lines with consistency. He was all over the field, and Pittsburgh’s run defense reflected it.
Take him off the field, though, and the Steelers looked like a completely different team. The run defense turned porous. Opposing offensive lines generated easy gains up the middle, creating displacement at the second and even third levels. Pittsburgh looked out of sync without its rookie nose tackle, and that gap in production tells you everything about how much Harmon meant to the defense in year one.
Why the sky could be the limit in 2026
So the immediate question becomes: what happens if Harmon stays healthy, puts it all together, and adds a pass-rush element to his game? That’s the projection that makes him such a compelling breakout pick.
If he can remain on the field for a full 17-game slate, the foundation he laid as a rookie suggests a significant leap is within reach. The run-stuffing ability is already there. The disruption is already there. If Harmon can develop some of the interior pass-rush prowess that Steelers fans watched from Cam Heyward over the years, he becomes a different caliber of player entirely.
Pittsburgh’s defense has leaned on dominant interior linemen for the better part of two decades. Harmon showed flashes of that kind of impact as a rookie, and the data backs it up. The Steelers were a fundamentally different defense when he was in the lineup versus when he wasn’t.
The bottom line
Derrick Harmon doesn’t need to reinvent himself to break out in 2026. He needs to stay healthy and refine the tools he already showed Pittsburgh last season. The disruption, the penetration, the ability to anchor the run game from the interior were all evident when he was on the field. Adding consistency and a pass-rush dimension would make him one of the more impactful young defensive tackles in the NFL. The Athletic got this one right.