The Pittsburgh Steelers have been among the most active teams in remaking their roster this offseason, and the team could continue to look to turn over its roster. On the North Shore Drive podcast, Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named Steelers DL DeMarvin Leal as one player who could potentially be traded.
“Occasionally, players who can have some value to other teams in trade talks are ones that have decent draft pedigree and physical attributes, measurables and just haven’t panned out in the NFL,” Batko said. “I look at the Steelers’ D-line, kind of go down the list, DeMarvin Leal, third-rounder a couple years ago just has not panned out here through two seasons. A little bit injury-induced, but I think more so just hasn’t developed the way they want.”
He said that Leal’s pedigree as a top recruit and well-regarded college player could help make him attractive to teams around the league.
“He’s at least the type of talent, former five-star recruit coming out of high school, maybe a GM somewhere would say we can fix him, and he would look better in our system than he does their defensive scheme.”
Leal has underperformed and was a healthy scratch at points last season, but one hurdle to trading him is just the fact that the Steelers’ defensive line depth isn’t great. They did recently sign Dean Lowry and brought back Montravius Adams, and there’s probably additional work to be done. Given that the depth wasn’t great last season and Leal was also a healthy scratch, it would make sense to see if the Steelers could get some value for him as he’ll be a cut candidate heading into the season.
A tweener who showed flashes as a rookie before dealing with injuries, Leal’s lack of pass-rush juice has been a big reason why he can’t get on the field. He settled into a spot on the defensive line last season but wasn’t able to ever consistently make an impact. Now he finds himself on the bottom of the roster as the Steelers look to upgrade their defensive line depth and get better in all facets of the game.
The other hindrance to trading Leal could be the fact that he likely won’t have much of a market. It’s hard to foresee the Steelers getting more than a sixth- or seventh-round pick for him, but obviously, that’s better than cutting him for nothing. Leal is going to have to show a lot in offseason workouts to secure a spot on the roster, and his future with the Steelers is certainly up in the air.
