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90 In 30: Steelers 2024 Training Camp Preview Series — Christian Kuntz, DeMarvin Leal, Logan Lee

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 5, 2024 at 7:15 am

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June. Next up is the team’s annual training camp, which gets underway in the latter part of July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of Steelers training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-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. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players in total during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.

The next set of players we will preview ahead of the Steelers’ 2024 training camp are Christian Kuntz, DeMarvin Leal, and Logan Lee.

LS Christian Kuntz: Kuntz is back with the Steelers after re-signing with the team in March. Kuntz’s new contract is for three years with guaranteed money only in the first one, an amount of $325,000.

Kuntz has been the Steelers’ long snapper the last three seasons and in 2023 he logged 150 special teams snaps during the regular season. He registered four special teams tackles in 2023 as well.

Outlook: Barring something unforeseen happening this summer, Kuntz should once again be the Steelers’ long snapper for the 2024 season. The Duquesne product is fairly dependable when it comes to his snap accuracy on punts and kick attempts and last season he had a career high in special teams tackles as well.

Kuntz will be snapping to a new punter and holder in 2024 in Cameron Johnston but those two should have plenty of time to get familiar with each other as the rest of the summer progresses. Kuntz is now 30 years old, so he likely has at least a few more seasons left in him.

Us not talking about Kuntz much once the 2024 regular season gets underway is the hope. If we are talking about him, it will likely be due to a gaffe on his part during a game. Those sorts of gaffes could wind up costing the Steelers a game.

DL DeMarvin Leal: Selected in the third-round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, Leal has yet to live up to his selection spot through his first two NFL seasons. As a rookie, Leal did log some meaningful playing time. However, that playing time included lining up at various positions within the defense with some of those even coming on the edge as a quasi-outside linebacker. Leal also missed valuable time as a 2022 rookie due to a knee injury.

In 2023, Leal played 206 defensive snaps and that was more than he logged in 2022 as a rookie. Most of those snaps came at more traditional spots on the defensive line with which he should have had familiarity. Even so, Leal’s overall play on defense was not very encouraging. The coaching staff obviously felt the same way as he was a gameday inactive player in four of the team’s final five regular-season contests. He was also inactive for the Steelers’ lone playoff game last season.

Leal did register 22 special teams snaps in 2023 with most of those coming as a member of the kick-block unit. He ended the 2023 regular season with 15 total tackles, two for loss, one sack, one pass defensed, and two quarterback hits.

Outlook: The rest of this summer is huge for Leal as he’s certainly not guaranteed a spot on the 53-man roster to start the 2024 regular season. He needs to start living up to his third-round selection status throughout training camp and the preseason and thus start showing he can be a dependable defensive line player. Several of those defensive line roster spots are likely already spoken for in Cameron Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi, Keeanu Benton, Dean Lowry and Montravius Adams. That would leave Leal battling for potentially one open roster spot if only six defensive linemen are ultimately kept. Even if two hypothetical defensive line roster spots are up for grabs, Leal is not a lock to grab one of them.

Should Leal start living up to expectations this summer, and thus ultimately secure a 53-man roster spot, his playing time during the 2024 regular season is likely to be very limited once again barring injuries occurring. He would also be a weekly gameday inactive player candidate whenever those ahead of him on the defensive line depth chart are healthy.

Of all the third-year players on the Steelers’ offseason roster ahead of training camp getting underway, Leal is perhaps the one with the most at stake. At the very least, he will be a player to watch closely once the practices get underway in Latrobe. It’s time for him to develop into a reliable backup defensive lineman. If he doesn’t, he might be jettisoned by the start of the 2024 regular season with hopes that he did enough to land on the practice squad.

DE Logan Lee: The Steelers selected Lee in the sixth-round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Iowa and he arrives in Pittsburgh after registering 158 total tackles, 18.5 for loss, nine sacks, seven passes defensed and two fumble recoveries during his four college seasons. He logged 1,840 total defensive snaps at Iowa over those four seasons and mostly played on the right side of the defensive line.

At the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, Lee measured in at 6053, 281-pounds with 32 1/4-inch arms and 10 1/4-inch hands. He did 25 reps on the bench and ran his 40-yard-dash in 5.05-seconds and his 20-yard-shuttle in 4.37-seconds. As part of the 2024 pre-draft process, Lee was invited to participate in the annual East-West Shrine Bowl.

Outlook: While Lee has most of the measurements the Steelers look for in their defensive linemen, his college tape shows that he needs overall strength and anchoring development. His play at Iowa, while very good at times, was inconsistent overall. He was better against the run than he was as a pass rusher, but he did develop enough in that phase of his game to make him worth spending a draft pick on.

Lee’s first goal as the summer progresses is to make the 53-man roster out of training camp and the preseason. That, however, will be a tall task due to numbers at the defensive line position group. At most, the Steelers will keep seven defensive linemen on their 53-man roster and several of those spots are already spoken for. Leal could be one particular player Lee needs to beat out for a roster spot. Isaiahh Loudermilk is potentially another one.

All told, it won’t be super surprising if Lee fails to notch a 53-man roster spot by the start of the 2024 regular season. More realistically, perhaps, is Lee starting the regular season on the Steelers’ practice squad as he does have quite a bit of developing to do as a rookie. He does have a fighter’s chance at a 53-man roster spot just the same.

Previous Posts In This Series:

Related Items:2024 Training Camp, Christian Kuntz, DeMarvin Leal, Logan Lee

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