The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June and next up is their annual training camp, which gets underway in late July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time for you as part of a 30-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow.
The next three players we will preview ahead of Steelers 2023 training camp are Christian Kuntz, Nick Kwiatkoski, and DeMarvin Leal.
LS Christian Kuntz: Kuntz has been the Steelers long snapper since the start of the 2021 season after beating out Kameron Canaday for that job that summer. Last season, Kuntz, a former undrafted free agent in 2017 out of Duquesne, played a total of 141 special teams snaps, all of them obviously him snapping on punts, field goals and extra points. He was credited with just one special teams tackle in 2022. For what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus graded Kuntz out in 2022 at mere 37.
Outlook: Attempting to predict the future of young NFL long snappers who are not considered tops at their position, is very tough to do. Such is the case when it comes to Kuntz. While he has been the Steelers’ long snapper for the last two seasons, the door seems open for him to lose his job this summer. The Steelers signed another young long snapper in Rex Sunahara after the team wrapped up its annual mandatory minicamp so it will be interesting to see how long he can stay on the offseason roster. It could go either way with Kuntz this summer and the outcome won’t surprise me one bit.
ILB Nick Kwiatkoski: The Steelers signed Kwiatkoski to their offseason roster after the team wrapped up its annual mandatory minicamp last month. Originally selected by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of West Virginia, Kwiatkoski has registered 293 total tackles, 17 for loss, two interceptions, six interceptions, 12 passes defensed and seven sacks in 89 regular-season NFL games. He has started 34 games during his NFL career, his last one coming in 2020 as a member of the Las Vegas Raiders. Since that season, Kwiatkoski has played all of 66 defensive snaps and 378 more on special teams. He was with the Atlanta Falcons last season and failed to see any playing time on defense.
Outlook: While the Steelers don’t have an overly impressive inside linebacker depth chart ahead of training camp getting underway, Kwiatkoski will still have a tough road when it comes to him making the team’s Week 1 53-man roster. At this point of his career, Kwiatkoski is a depth player with special teams ability. He’ll need to stay healthy this summer, pick up the defense quickly and shine on special teams as a core player for him to have a shot at sticking around come Week 1. He might need an injury ahead of him on the depth chart to also help his Week 1 roster cause.
DE DeMarvin Leal: The Steelers selected Leal in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M and he went on to play in 11 games as a rookie with 175 total snaps on defense and 39 more on special teams. Leal’s rookie season was interrupted by a knee injury, however, and that resulted in a six week stay on the Reserve/Injured list. For the 2022 season, Leal totaled 14 tackles, one for loss, and three passes defensed. He played all over the Steelers’ defensive front as a rookie and that included time as an outside linebacker. His head had to be spinning after his rookie season as he seemed like a player without a true position.
Outlook: While Steelers have said they like Leal’s position flexibility, it seems like we might just see him in more of a defensive end role in 2023. After all, the Steelers’ outside linebacker depth now looks better than it did last year. Leal should make the Steelers’ 53-man roster again in 2023 and assuming that happens, it will be interesting to see how many snaps they can carve out for him on defense.
He might see most of his playing time as a sub-package rusher, at least initially. More than anything else, we should have a much better idea as to who Leal is as a defensive player after the 2023 season is over with, especially if he isn’t asked to move around as much as he was as a rookie.
Previous Posts In This Series:
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Montravius Adams, Spencer Anderson, Calvin Austin III
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Luq Barcoo, Keeanu Benton, Chris Boswell
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Miles Boykin, Ja’Marcus Bradley, Hakeem Butler
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Jordan Byrd, Dan Chisena, Le’Raven Clark
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Mason Cole, Dylan Cook, James Daniels
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Duke Dawson, Kevin Dotson, William Dunkle
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Breiden Fehoko, Dez Fitzpatrick, Minkah Fitzpatrick
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Pat Freiermuth, Zach Gentry, Markus Golden
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Alfonzo Graham, Kendrick Green, Darius Hagans
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Madre Harper, Najee Harris, Pressley Harvin III
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Nate Herbig, Nick Herbig, Cameron Heyward
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Connor Heyward, Alex Highsmith, Cole Holcomb
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Jason Huntley, Diontae Johnson, Broderick Jones
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Manny Jones, Damontae Kazee, Miles Killebrew
