Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger Raves About Absolute 'Animal' Of A Rookie

The Pittsburgh Steelers have very high expectations for their rookie class in 2025. There was a lot of emphasis put on going back to typical Steelers football, and that's exactly what they went for. They beefed up the pass rush with three additions on that side of the ball, and also added running back Kaleb Johnson to help fit the offensive scheme. After the embarrassments the team faced during the five-game losing streak in 2024, Pittsburgh did everything it could to make sure it would not get bullied like that again, and the draft was a big component of it. 

While hosting his show Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had all kinds of great things to say about the most important draft pick Pittsburgh made this past April.

"Man, [Derrick Harmon]'s going to be an animal," Roethlisberger said. "Love to see it, love to see him just basically manhandle people. He just takes control of the line, he takes control of his guy, and he is going to get so much better the more he learns about the little nuances of the game: little techniques, little trick things, little -- I'm not going to call it cheating things, but things that the big guys do in there. He's going to figure it out; he's going to learn from Cam [Heyward], he's going to learn from those guys how to be a vet, but awesome for him."

Roethlisberger clearly took notice of Derrick Harmon's big sack in Preseason Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he just took the left guard and walked him straight back into his quarterback. Obviously, there are plenty of things for him to learn, but he just showed the world that he has the strength and power to play defensive tackle at the NFL level. 

Harmon was drafted in the first round to help fix the Steelers' questionable run defense and provide stability in the future for when defensive captain Cameron Heyward eventually retires. He has a great mentor to learn from, and they will be getting a lot of snaps together in 2025 and 2026 before the First Team All-Pro officially hangs up the cleats. Once that happens, Harmon will have to step up and be the leader of the defensive line.

Harmon was not supposed to even fall to Pittsburgh's pick in the draft. He fell due to injury concerns, but so far, those have not popped up much. It looks like many teams made a big mistake in passing up on him, and even Roethlisberger is getting excited about what he has seen from the first-round pick so far, as well as other former Steelers players. As long as he continues to develop, he will be an absolute steal, even for first-round standards. 

What makes everything even better for Harmon is the fact that he will primarily be playing next to one of the best defensive players in football, if not the single best one. TJ Watt is back, he got paid, and he is ready to prove that the back half of 2024 was just a fluke stretch of games regarding his lack of heavy production. If Watt can command the attention that he usually gets, Harmon will have plenty of one-on-one battles on gameday, where he can continue to throw opposing guards into their quarterbacks. 

Steelers Will Be Disappointed By Anything Less Than Domination

When your front four consists of Watt, Harmon, Heyward, and Alex Highsmith, failure is not an option. Decent play will not be tolerated either. That unit is absolutely loaded, and even though the rookie still has a lot to learn, he should at least benefit from the players around him. 

Stopping the run should not be an issue either, with Keeanu Benton playing nose tackle as well. This should be an elite unit in 2025.