Pittsburgh Steelers Exit Meeting: DE DeMarvin Leal
Experience: 3 Years
Steelers DE DeMarvin Leal is facing a critical season in 2025, his last year under contract. A third-round pick in 2022, he has done little in his first three seasons. While last year was marred by injury, he showed little promise before that.
But the Steelers also knew that Leal would be a player who needed developed when they drafted him. Not only was he young, but they would ask him to do much at an atypical size. He is not ideally suited for any one role in a 3-4 front, so they have emphasized his versatility.
To his credit, DeMarvin Leal was fully on board with the Steelers’ plans for him. And in his defense, he had a better offseason and seemed to show greater maturity. As a young player, he had to learn how to be a professional, and observers felt he took critical steps in that department. He was the first to admit, for example, that he had a lot of growing up to do.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have much opportunity to prove himself in 2024. After a strong training camp, Leal suffered a season-ending neck injury in the Steelers’ fifth game. Up to that point, he didn’t see much playing time, just 17 snaps in the first three games. He played 22 the following week and 12 in the game in which his injury occurred, but it’s hard to say where that would have led.
And it’s not as though he clearly played significantly better when he played more. In fact, Leal didn’t register a tackle in his 22-snap game for the Steelers, a loss to the Colts. But the reality is that he missed out on the vast majority of the season.
That makes the 2025 season his last to prove himself to the team that drafted him. If DeMarvin Leal doesn’t show very clear growth this year, there is no reason for the Steelers to re-sign him. Unless they wanted to undertake the project of moving him to outside linebacker, which would take some doing.
The Steelers may shuffle their defensive line considerably this offseason, though I’m sure Leal will remain a part of it for the 2025 season. They still want to see what he has in his maturity for a full season. And they know this may be their last shot at it, so he had better make it count.
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at home, the inevitable result of another early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, with no clear end in sight. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will go down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
