With the Steelers’ 2023 offseason underway following a disappointing season that came up just short of reaching the playoffs, it’s time to begin reloading, through the free agency process, through the draft, and perhaps even through trade.
This is now a young team on the offensive side of the ball, though one getting older on defense, and both sides could stand to be supplemented robustly, including in the trenches—either one. Changes have been made to the coaching staff, even if not all of the desired ones, as the roster continues to renew with the weeks ticking by.
These sorts of uncertainties are what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
Topic Statement: The Steelers need to find a concrete “home base” position for DeMarvin Leal to avoid stretching him too thin and hindering his development.
Explanation: Both Steelers coaches and Leal himself have talked this offseason about how there is no plan for him to work at a single position. He has even expressly talked about embracing his versatility as his strength and wanting to continue to work at a number of different positions.
Buy:
Do the Steelers need another jack of all trades? Look, there’s going to come a point in time in which they are going to have to have someone step up in Cameron Heyward’s place, either because he retires or for some other reason. He’s also at that football age where injuries can start to accumulate. Larry Ogunjobi has his own injury history, so the Steelers need a strong third defensive end in a guy like Leal.
But he’s not going to be that guy if they keep moving him around. I’m not even sure if they have a plan for what they want his body to be. What weight is he going to play at, and is that going to be suitable for him to play full-time snaps along the line of necessary? Frankly, it really doesn’t seem like it, and it’s feeling like a mistake.
Sell:
Contrary to the moron above, the reality is that versatility is Leal’s only avenue for significant playing time, with both Heyward and Ogunjobi locked up for the next few years (either by contract or by the fact that there’s no way the Steelers would allow Heyward to play for another team).
With the drafting of Keeanu Benton this year on top of everything else, Leal’s focus has to be accumulating experience, wherever that comes from. If that means spending time rushing off the edge in a two-point stance, so be it. It will only serve him well down the line by helping him to access new pass-rushing tools less likely to be gleaned during a life lived exclusively between the tackles.
Leal’s time is not now, so that means he has to be creative, and the Steelers have to be creative with him. But when and if his time does come later on down the line, he’ll be able to adjust and fit into a singular role. Moving around now isn’t going to prevent him from growing and developing over time and being able to settle into a stable “home base” role should he ever be in a position to earn a starting job. Plenty of players rely on their versatility to get their foot in the door and then grow into a single role, like former Steelers offensive lineman Matt Feiler.
