The Pittsburgh Steelers won in Week 3 of the NFL preseason on Thursday. But a lot of NFL coaches prefer to stay healthy through preseason contests rather than win.
The Steelers didn’t accomplish the latter, as first-round pick Derrick Harmon left during the second quarter in Week 3 of the preseason on a cart.
The team ruled him out with a knee injury.
After the game, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin shared that Harmon sustained a knee sprain. Tomlin also said he’s being further evaluated.
When asked a follow-up question about if he was concerned the injury was serious, Tomlin kept his response to one sentence.
“Like I said, it was a knee sprain,” said Tomlin.
Knee Sprain the Best Case Scenario for Steelers’ Derrick Harmon?
Players leaving on carts can sometimes be misleading. But pundits and fans always assume the worst when a player needs a cart to leave the field after an injury.
For that reason, a knee sprain is probably one of the best-case scenarios for Harmon.
However, that’s assuming it’s only a Grade 1 knee sprain. Generally, “sprains” are considered milder injuries, but the term is ambiguous.
Tomlin seemed to take advantage of the fact “sprains” can have a wide-range of seriousness and just applied the general term to Harmon’s ailment after the game.
NFL.com contributing editor Bill Bradley described the term in 2014:
“When we use the term ‘sprain,’ by definition it means an injury to a ligament,” Bradley wrote.
“A ‘strain’ is an injury to a muscle or a tendon. A knee sprain could be Grade 1, which is mild with microscopic damage to the ligament, or it could be a complete tear of the ligament, which is a Grade 3 sprain.
The problem is the term, ‘knee sprain’ doesn’t indicate how bad of an injury it is.”
To be fair, in all likelihood, if Harmon suffered a complete tear in one of his knee ligaments, Tomlin and the Steelers probably wouldn’t be calling the injury a “sprain.”
NFL teams usually use “tear” for the Grade 3 sprains.
But just because Tomlin implied it’s a milder injury doesn’t mean Harmon doesn’t have a serious injury. It’s just probably not the worst-case scenario.
Steelers Defensive Line Depth Entering 2025 NFL Season
Harmon’s health will now be something to monitor for the Steelers ahead of Week 1.
Tomlin made no indication whether or not he is in danger of missing the season opener on September 7.
If Harmon could miss the opener and perhaps more weeks in September, that could impact Pittsburgh’s opening roster.
The Steelers have to cut their roster from 90 to 53 players by 4 pm ET on August 26.
Harmon was projected to start at defensive end alongside Keeanu Benton and Cameron Heyward. Ahead of Thursday’s preseason matchup, the Steelers had Isaiahh Loudermilk, Daniel Ekuale and Logan Lee listed as the second-team defensive linemen.
Pittsburgh also has defensive linemen Yahya Black, Esezi Otomewo, Kyler Baugh and Domenique Davis on the roster.
The Steelers drafted Black in the fifth round of the 2025 draft.
Steelers.com’s Missi Matthews reported Thursday that after the injury, Harmon returned to the bench during the fourth quarter. Cameras caught Harmon smiling.
Pundits are taking those facts as further indication that Harmon doesn’t have a tear.
The Steelers drafted the defensive lineman at No. 21 overall in the first round this past spring.
At Oregon last season, Harmon registered 11 tackles for loss, five sacks, four pass defenses and two forced fumbles in 14 games.
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