Pittsburgh Steelers first-round choose Derrick Harmon was carted off the sector throughout Thursday’s preseason game towards the Carolina Panthers after sustaining a knee harm. Coach Mike Tomlin mentioned after the 19-10 win that Harmon suffered a “knee sprain” and is being additional evaluated.
The rookie defensive lineman didn’t return to the sport, however was later proven on the Steelers’ bench within the second half and gave the impression to be in good spirits.
Harmon, the No. 21 general choose within the 2025 NFL Draft, was visibly emotional with a towel draped over his head as he was initially taken to the locker room.
Harmon was listed as a beginning defensive finish on Pittsburgh’s unofficial depth chart. His harm is a probably important growth forward of roster cutdown day subsequent Tuesday.
Harmon recorded one deal with towards the Panthers previous to the harm. Within the Steelers’ second preseason sport towards the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Harmon registered three complete tackles and a sack.
Harmon performed his college football at Michigan State earlier than transferring to Oregon in 2024. At Michigan State, he totaled 71 tackles throughout three seasons and added 3.5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss. At Oregon, he began all 14 video games, incomes second-team All-Massive Ten honors and recognition as an Related Press second-team All-American.
The previous a number of months have been emotionally taxing for Harmon. His mom, Tiffany Saine, suffered a stroke throughout his freshman yr at Michigan State and endured quite a few mind surgical procedures. She was on life assist when the Steelers drafted Harmon and died shortly after he arrived on the hospital to share the information of his choice.
“Man, how resilient she was,” Harmon said when he was requested about how she impressed him. “Simply rising up, from my standpoint, my state of affairs, I grew up along with her having in all probability seven, eight mind surgical procedures. And in spite of everything these mind surgical procedures, she didn’t surrender. She nonetheless took me to apply, nonetheless went to work. And I all the time, all the time had at the back of my head, from the start of my faculty profession, ‘Why can I maintain going if I am drained, I am injured, no matter it’s? Why can I maintain going if she will be able to rise up and maintain going after mind surgical procedure?’ So, simply her resilience and laborious work. She was my inspiration.”
