Initial Reaction to the Steelers’ 2025 Draft Class
With the 257th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots selected Kobee Minor, DB from Memphis, which marked the end of the draft. I had a lot of fun following this draft cycle, even though following it through the lens of a Steeler fan made it quite the roller coaster ride. I don’t think any team has ever had a 100% perfect draft, and the Steelers’ 2025 picks certainly have their peaks and valleys, but if I were to give my initial reaction without some (perhaps) necessary context, I’d say Omar Khan and the crew did their thing this go-round. Solid B+.
I have to say, just from following the draft all weekend, the board seemed to be falling extremely well for the Steelers. I’ll get into the details of that throughout this post, but based on the team’s pre-draft visits and team needs, they pretty much had free reign at a lot of guys they showed quite a bit of interest in. Friday dragged on for quite a bit, because we didn’t have a 2nd round pick. 62 guys were drafted between our first and third round picks. That portion of the draft was tough to watch, but it’s important to remember that we basically selected D.K. Metcalf with that pick, so that torment will pay off.
R1 Pick 21 - Derrick Harmon - DT from Oregon
I had a significant amount of anxiety when the Steelers were on the clock with the 21st pick. Do the Steelers go with Omarion Hampton? Do they go with Shedeur Sanders? Maybe…Jaxson Dart? Nope. That memory of the Ravens running for 299 yards in a playoff game is still too fresh in the minds of Mike Tomlin, Omar Khan, and the crew. The Steelers went with Derrick Harmon from Oregon, which, honestly, made for an underwhelming response from a coverage standpoint (ESPN was really dialed in on the Shedeur thing), but was the right thing to do.
The Steelers had Harmon in for a pre-draft visit earlier this month, so the interest was obvious. Harmon is built like, and plays fairly similar to, Cam Heyward, so it’ll be interesting to see what their relationship is like. If he can pick up some of Cam’s habits from a preparation and leadership standpoint, then that would further reinforce my impression that he is going to be a significant contributor to our defense in the future.
I was pretty harsh on Harmon when I predicted the Steelers would take him, but not because he’s not a good player. I wanted to understand what he wasn’t good at and how that could potentially affect our defense if he was asked to take a live NFL snap RIGHT NOW. The fact is that he struggles to finish plays when he finds himself in the backfield. BUT, he’s versatile enough to line up anywhere on the d-line and be an instant contributor, and he’s going to be a tough S.O.B. to block for the average NFL offensive lineman. Then, when you consider the names around him that also require significant attention like T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Keeanu Benton, Alex Highsmith, etc. etc., I think the role of disruptor is just fine for him and the guys around him will mitigate the notion that he misses a lot of tackles. He was the right pick at 21, and our defense is instantly better because of it.
R3 Pick 83 - Kaleb Johnson - RB from Iowa
Back on February 1st, I professed my loyalty to Kaleb Johnson, and maintained it throughout the entire draft process. However, once the Steelers traded away their second round pick for D.K. Metcalf, I thought there was no way in hell he would be a Pittsburgh Steeler, because I figured he’d go in the second round, and I couldn’t envision a scenario where they would trade back into the second round.
This is what I meant when I said the board fell extremely well for the Steelers. I think Derrick Harmon was their #1 guy if he was there (barring them trading up of course), and he landed in their lap. They completely missed out on the second round, and in the third they got to choose between all kinds of guys I would’ve been perfectly happy with. Hell, I wouldn’t have been happy with the third round pick if it was Will Howard, but I would’ve understood it…and more on that later, of course. But, as my luck would have it, my guy Kaleb Johnson was there for the taking, and the Steelers weren’t going to let him slide any further than that.
The Steelers will tell us that Jaylen Warren is RB1 heading into the 2025 season, but I don’t think it’ll take long for Kaleb Johnson to start seeing the bulk of the carries. He’s got (probably) the best vision of any RB in this draft cycle, and he’s going to be able to thrive immediately in Arthur Smith’s offense, which utilizes a lot of those outside zone runs that Johnson did, almost exclusively, at Iowa. Folks everywhere are calling this a glove-like fit, and I agree.
Kaleb Johnson also fits the Steeler mold of big, strong backs, but more than that, he can accelerate and create big plays when he’s got space and blockers. He sets his blocks up extremely well, remaining patient and turning on the jets when the time is right. Of course, the offensive line is going to have to be better than it has been over the past few seasons, and I think they can be, but a runner like Kaleb Johnson makes their lives a little easier as well.
Overall, I’m sold on this kid. He’s my favorite guy that we drafted in this year’s draft, and I expect a lot of good things from him pretty early on in the 2025 season…but more on that another day.
R4 Pick 123 - Jack Sawyer - EDGE from Ohio State
I won’t lie…I was kinda caught off guard when this pick came in. I thought for sure this pick was going to be a slot corner, a WR, or a QB. OLB just wasn’t a position I thought they’d be looking at.
I know who Jack Sawyer is, because I was often tuned in to the College Football Playoffs, and he certainly made a name for himself there. However, I can’t speak too much on what I think about the player, because I never really dug into any of the names at this position with any fervor.
One thing I do know about Jack Sawyer that has been brought up many times on social media is that he was one of the team captains during Ohio State’s 2024 campaign, which obviously ended with a 2025 National Championship. I can also say that I’ve seen a lot of Browns and Bengals fans on reddit that are very perturbed that we landed Sawyer as late as we did; the bulk of them being Ohio State fans, of course.
After just taking a quick look at his prospect profile and looking at some highlights on youtube and twitter/x, it seems like the Steelers probably drafted Sawyer to rotate in on early downs to help out against the run. EDGE is set for us with Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt, and it seems like Nick Herbig has solidified himself (or will soon if you disagree) as a bonafide pass rusher in the NFL. For Sawyer, I think he’ll step in as sort of the run-down yin to Herbig’s pass-down yang. Of course, for me, this is just blind speculation based on what the internet is saying, and I’ll do my own due diligence on the player and form my own opinion about whether or not he was the right pick for the Steelers at 123. This pick seems to be a mixed bag among Steeler fans.
R5 Pick 164 - Yahya (why-yay) Black - DE from Iowa
Love this pick. In the fifth round, the Steelers were able to get solid d-line depth in the form of Yahya Black, who will continue to wear the black and gold alongside his Iowa teammate Kaleb Johnson. Interestingly enough, as I’m writing this, news just broke that the Steelers are releasing Montravius Adams. I’m sure having Black on the squad played into that decision.
The selection of Yahya Black further solidifies the point I made earlier about the Ravens playoff game leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the Steelers’ front office. With Black, what you’re getting is simply a massive human being to plug up the middle of your defensive line. He’s not going to wow you with his quickness off the ball or his technique or anything like that…but if you leave him one-on-one, he’s going to be a headache for teams trying to run the football.
At nearly 340 lbs. with a 7-foot wingspan, it’s easy to see what attracted the Steelers to Black, even if his tape is messy at times. The general consensus seems to be that he doesn’t offer much as a pass rusher, but I wouldn’t want to speculate on that until I watched more tape. I do know that on passing downs, he has been known to get his hands up and bat down passes at the line of scrimmage, which is something that several Steelers players do very well. To come away with a guy his size in the 5th round was a welcome sight for me.
R6 Pick 185 - Will Howard - QB from Ohio State
Round six????? Sanders in the fifth???? Clearly the Steelers’ front office knew something that nobody in the media knew, and thank goodness for that. Like I said earlier, I would’ve understood taking Will Howard in the third round. I wouldn’t have liked it…but I would’ve understood it and moved on from it. In the sixth round he’s an absolute steal, even if all you get is an above-average backup out of the deal, which I think is around what he will be.
Without considering what my eyes tell me about his play on the field, I like the resume of Will Howard. He was voted team captain during his time at Kansas State before he transferred to Ohio State, where he went on to win a National Championship and was named the offensive MVP of the National Championship game. In my opinion, without ever having met the guy, he seems to have all the natural-born traits of a leader that you could want from your quarterback.
When evaluating football players and forming opinions about them, it feels shitty to say that a player is a product of the environment they played in. In a way it feels like you're shortchanging all the work they put in to (perhaps) put themselves in that favorable environment. Still, Will Howard is not immune from those notions. Howard put together a great 2024 campaign, which ended in College Football immortality, but he was working alongside Ryan Day and Chip Kelly, throwing to guys like Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka, with guys like TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins in the backfield. That is an NFL offense. And, there’s value in the fact that Will Howard was serviceable, even wonderful at times, and that he didn’t mess it up, but it also makes passing judgement and setting expectations for him at the next level really difficult. My counter to that is…I’m not going to set them. A sixth round pick isn’t much of an investment anyway, and the fact that the Steelers waited as long as they did to take a QB off the board tells me that a rookie QB was never going to be their starter in 2024 anyways. It’s going to be Mason Rudolph or a veteran. And that’s ok.
Maybe Will Howard gets a shot and shows us something special. If not, we’re on to the 2026 draft in Pittsburgh where we draft our franchise QB. I’m happy that the Steelers didn’t panic draft a QB, and I’m happy to have Will Howard in our locker room.
R7 Pick 226 - Carson Bruener - LB from Washington
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R7 Pick 229 - Donte Kent - DB from Central Michigan
I bunched these two picks together, because I don’t know much about either prospect and don’t have a whole lot to say about them. Carson Bruener is the son of former Steelers TE Mark Bruener, and that’s about all I know about him. Some fans think he’s a nepotism pick while others (typically Husky fans) say in the seventh round, he’s an absolute steal. But, it’s the seventh round, so I’ll take a look at his college tape and not read too much into it.
Then, for Donte Kent, the only thing I really know about him is that he’s the guy that’s going to be brought in for competition at the nickel corner spot. Lord knows we need it, and I really thought this was something we were going to address earlier in the draft, but again, I’ll check him out and form my own opinion later.
Overall, I really like how the Steelers operated throughout draft weekend, hence my initial B+ grade of them. I think the first two picks, Harmon and Johnson, are home run, A+ picks that are going to be significant contributors to this team, probably sooner than folks would expect. Things got a little murky for me in round four with the selection of Jack Sawyer, but mostly because it simply wasn’t a position of need. I’m not going to be critical of the selection until I do my own homework, but my immediate gut reaction was that of befuddlement. Yahya Black and Will Howard in the fifth and sixth rounds are absolute steals, and straight up A+ picks to me, and then hopefully the two seventh round picks can carve out rolls for themselves. The Pittsburgh Steelers got a whole lot better during the draft…and I see the vision.
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