Derrick Harmon’s strip sack of Joe Burrow on Sunday did more than seal a 30-27 Steelers win. It sent the 2025 NFL Draft right back into the conversation for the Cincinnati Bengals, where the Shemar Stewart pick is looking worse by the week.
Cincinnati used the 17th overall pick on Stewart, and the early returns have been brutal. He made almost no impact as a rookie, then in the AFC North opener of his second season he didn’t play a single defensive snap. Harmon, meanwhile, was the one making the decisive play, punching the ball free from Burrow to end it.
That sequence had a clear draft-day echo: the Bengals passed on Harmon, a defensive tackle they badly needed, and took Stewart instead.
The contrast between the two players is hard to ignore. Stewart left Texas A&M with 4.5 sacks in three years.
Harmon transferred from Michigan State to Oregon and posted five sacks in one season there. Harmon then backed it up as a rookie, finishing with three sacks in 12 games and generally living up to being the 21st overall pick when healthy.
Sunday’s sack on Burrow only added to the sense that Harmon is trending the right way. And for Cincinnati, the frustration isn’t just that Stewart has offered little. It’s what the roster might have looked like with Harmon in the middle of the defense instead of Stewart nowhere to be found on game day.
That decision also ripples beyond the pass rush. If Harmon had been the pick, maybe the Bengals wouldn’t have needed to pay Jonathan Allen. That money could have gone somewhere else, maybe to a linebacker, or to a safer answer at safety than the current setup with Jordan Battle and a bargain-bin addition in Kyle Dugger.
Allen looked solid through the first two games, but by Week 3 he was almost invisible. Maybe the knee issue that landed him on the injury report was more serious than it first seemed. Either way, the bigger point remains: missing on Stewart looks even uglier when Harmon could have filled that role at a lower cost and opened up more flexibility everywhere else.
By the Bengals’ standards, this offseason was supposed to be an all-in push. But the cap space still doesn’t look maximized, and Sunday’s result only sharpened that criticism.
On my big board for the 2025 draft, Harmon was 22nd and Stewart was 52nd. If I were sitting in Duke Tobin’s chair, that would have been an easy call. But what do I know!?
To be fair, that board also didn’t account for off-field issues tied to Mike Green and James Pearce Jr., information I didn’t have at the time. Both were ranked ahead of Harmon.
Still, Cincinnati clearly did its homework on those two and passed. That only makes the idea of taking Harmon feel even more obvious, as long as he didn’t have some unsavory backstory.
In Other News...
Amarius Mims Passed A Huge Bengals Test Despite One Costly Mistake
Amarius Mims had the kind of game the Bengals have been waiting to see from their 2024 first-round pick. Against the Steelers, he held up well at right tackle and gave Joe Burrow a cleaner pocket than Cincinnati has often had this season, even with Pittsburgh sending elite pressure off the edge. For a young tackle still learning the NFL pace, the performance suggested he can already handle big moments against top pass rushers like T.J. Watt.
Of course, it was not a spotless afternoon. Mims had some penalties and a late pass protection breakdown, the sort of hiccup that can swing attention in a close divisional game, and Cincinnati fell 30-27 anyway. The bigger concern for the Bengals was not just one rookie mistake, but how the loss also featured problems on defense and special teams, leaving Mims' encouraging work as one of the few clear positives to come out of the day. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Injury Concerns Suddenly Loom Larger After Steelers Loss
The Bengals left Pittsburgh with more than just a loss to process, and Zac Taylors postgame injury update added another layer to an already uneasy Sunday. Colbie Young looks likely to miss next weeks game against the Jaguars, while several other injured players remain in limbo as Cincinnati tries to sort out its roster heading into the next stretch.
Taylor also addressed defensive end Shemar Stewarts limited workload, tying it to his recent practice history, while Joe Burrow said he came out of the game without any new injuries. Burrows focus was on the missed chances against the Steelers, but the bigger question for Cincinnati now is how many moving parts will still be available when the Bengals try to bounce back. [Read more 🡒]
Dexter Lawrence Sends Clear Message After Bengals Defensive Letdown
Dexter Lawrence finally got on the board with his first sacks since joining the Bengals, a bright spot in a 30-27 loss to the Steelers that otherwise left Cincinnati searching for answers on defense. Even with the disappointment of the result, Lawrence pointed to the mistakes that helped tilt the game Pittsburghs way and framed the setback as something the group can learn from, not a sign of a bigger issue.
The Bengals are still 2-1 and have a quick chance to steady things when they meet the Jaguars next. For a defense that showed flashes but could not finish the job, the immediate challenge is turning Lawrences optimism into cleaner execution, especially against an opponent that will be watching for the same soft spots. [Read more 🡒]