PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers gave their defensive line a boost, selecting tackle Derrick Harmon from Oregon with the 21st overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday night.

While the Steelers remain in the market for a quarterback, they opted to pass on Colorado star Shedeur Sanders, who met with the team before the draft and received glowing reviews from head coach Mike Tomlin.

Yet with Aaron Rodgers still potentially available — the four-time MVP visited the Steelers’ facility in March but is taking his time before deciding whether to play a 21st season — Pittsburgh addressed another glaring need instead.

Pittsburgh is hoping the 6-foot-4, 313-pound Harmon can help a defensive front that was frequently manhandled during a five-game losing streak to end the season, the nadir being a first-round playoff loss to Baltimore in which Pittsburgh gave up 299 yards rushing to Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and company.

While Heyward remains seemingly ageless — he was named an All-Pro for the fourth time last fall after racking up eight sacks at age 35 — the Steelers have been unable to provide him with a consistently productive partner. They cut Larry Ogunjobi in a salary cap move in March and while Keeanu Benton has shown flashes during his first two seasons, he remains very much a work in progress.

Browns trade

BEREA(AP) — After trading the second overall pick to Jacksonville, Cleveland Browns selected Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham at No. 5 in the NFL draft on Thursday night.

Graham was a first-team selection on the Associated Press All-America team. He had 45 tackles, 7.0 sacks and 3 1/2 tackles for loss last season. Graham was the defensive MVP of the Rose Bowl during Michigan’s national championship season in 2023.

Browns general manager Andrew Berry opted to go for draft picks instead of taking Heisman Trophy winner and Colorado two-way superstar Travis Hunter, who the Jaguars moved up to take.

Cleveland got Jacksonville’s second- and fourth-rounders this year and the Jaguars’ 2026 first-rounder. With two of the top four picks in the second round, it was possible the Browns could move up into late in the first round.

“We felt like it was a fantastic opportunity for our organization to go down three spots and add a player in the trenches,” Berry said of the trade after selecting Graham.

Quite the Journey

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Browns took a Journey to the first night of the NFL draft.

As if having a top-five pick didn’t create enough interest, the Browns decided to reward their season ticket holders by bringing in Journey for a concert at Huntington Bank Field before the picks began.

Brent Rossi, the Browns’ chief marketing officer, said the talks about doing something beyond the usual draft party began at the end of last season, when the Browns finished 3-14 and secured their 14th top-10 draft pick since returning in 1999.

In a third-party survey, the Browns found the top three rock bands by season ticket holders to be Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and Journey.

Since there’s no hope for another Zeppelin reunion and the Stones played in Cleveland last year, the option ended up being Journey.

“When you have a chance to marry one of the NFL’s tentpole events with a band like Journey, it was a no-brainer for us in something that we wanted to do for season ticket members, especially showing so much loyalty over the last decades and last year when the product on the field didn’t live up to expectations,” Rossi said.

It’s not the first time an NFL team has tried to bring in a big act for the draft. The Los Angeles Chargers had Snoop Dogg at SoFi Stadium in 2022 during the first round.

Season ticket holders received free tickets equaling the number of seats in their account. The Browns said final attendance was 25,081.

Fans were tailgating in the parking lots before the concert started.

Cleveland also had a first-round pick for the first time since 2021. They sent three first-round selections to Houston in the Deshaun Watson trade and signed him to a massive contract in what is on pace to become one of the worst trades in NFL history.

Journey came on at 6:45 p.m. and was expected to play for 90 minutes, finishing their set right before the Browns were supposed to go on the clock with the second-overall pick. Cleveland, however, made a trade with Jacksonville and moved down three spots to fifth along with adding picks in the second and fourth rounds and the Jaguars’ first-round selection in 2026.

It took only three songs for the 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees to play what could be the theme tune for all the teams this weekend and a franchise that has had only four winning seasons since 1999 — “Don’t Stop Believing.”

The Browns have tied into the city’s rock heritage in recent seasons, including a guitarist in the Dawg Pound bleacher section during games.

Last year, the team honored the Rock Hall’s Class of 2024 during a game. Foreigner, who was inducted that weekend, performed at halftime.