PITTSBURGH — Tiffany Saine, the mother of Steelers first-round pick Derrick Harmon, died Thursday night shortly after her son was selected No. 21 in the NFL draft.
Saine, who suffered a stroke in 2022 that left her paralyzed on her left side, was on life support in the hospital while Harmon learned of his NFL future surrounded by the rest of his family in his hometown of Detroit.
“On behalf of the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization, I extend our deepest condolences to Derrick Harmon and his family during this difficult time,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said Friday in a statement. “Though we are excited to select Derrick in the first round of the NFL Draft, our hearts are heavy as we mourn the death of his mother, Tiffany Saine. We will support Derrick and his family however we can as he navigates this period of grief. In times like this, we hope Derrick finds comfort in the love and support from the organization and Steelers fans around the world.
Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with Derrick’s entire family.”
Harmon told reporters he was leaving his draft party to see his mother in the hospital Thursday night.
“It was a little bittersweet, man,” Harmon said Thursday of the moment he got the Steelers’ call. “My mom wasn’t with me, she’s at the hospital right now on life support, so that was a little bittersweet, because she worked just as hard as me to get to this moment.”
Ahead of the Rose Bowl in December, Harmon shared that he used some of his NIL money to buy his mom a wheelchair-accessible van. Harmon spent the first three years of his career at Michigan State to be close to his mom before making the difficult decision to transfer to Oregon for his senior season.
Harmon said Thursday night that he learned resilience from his mom as he watched her endure multiple brain surgeries before the stroke.
“After all those brain surgeries, man, she did not give up,” Harmon said. “She still took me to practice, still went to work, and I always, always, in the back of my head from the beginning of my college career was, why can’t I keep going?
“If I’m tired, I’m injured, whatever it is, why can’t I keep going if she can get up and she can keep going after brain surgery.”