The 2023 season was not a good one for Pittsburgh Steelers DL DeMarvin Leal as he found himself a healthy scratch for the final three games of the regular season. When he was on the field, Leal wasn’t much of a contributor with just 15 total tackles, two tackles for a loss and one sack in 206 defensive snaps. During Mike Tomlin’s end-of-year press conference, he was asked if there is a path for Leal to become a regular contributor for the Steelers.
“There certainly is, but he’s gotta be a component of that. Obviously, we put helmets on guys that we think are best positioned to help us secure victory, and he hadn’t been a component of that, so he’s got some work to do,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel.
A third-round pick in 2022 out of Texas A&M, Leal was a tweener coming out who still doesn’t really have a defined role. As a rookie, he played some outside linebacker to fill in for the injured T.J. Watt, and this season he moved to a more full-time role on the defensive line, but his production was minimal.
For Leal, the path forward seems to be to bulk up and try to stick as a defensive lineman. He’s still a little bit undersized, and while the team praised his versatility in the offseason, he never got a shot to compete as an outside linebacker this season. That’s understandable given the signing of Markus Golden and drafting of Nick Herbig — the two provided ample depth at the position — but Leal’s lack of a pass rush as a defensive lineman plus being a worse run defender than Isaiahh Loudermilk put him on the bench to end the season once Pittsburgh was fully healthy up front.
If the Steelers address the defensive line early in the draft or through free agency, which they likely will with Cameron Heyward’s future with the team uncertain at least beyond this year, Leal may find himself fighting for a roster spot. It would go down as a failed draft pick if he has played his last game for the Steelers, a former third rounder out after just 23 games in two seasons, but if Leal comes back stronger and more suited to play the line and impresses in camp, he can always find himself as a contributor.
Tomlin essentially put the onus on him to make that happen, and we’ll see if he’s able to do so. It would be a huge boon for the Steelers if Leal does end up showing that he can play a key role as right now he’s just a guy and someone who will be on the roster bubble if he doesn’t improve. Now that there’s at least more clarity on where his future position is, he needs to get to work.
