The Pittsburgh Steelers are excited for preseason to begin. Training camp has gone on for just over two weeks, and many players are itching to prove they belong on the roster by showing up against someone other than their own teammates in team drills. It will most likely be extremely humid in Florida, as the team will travel down South to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. That will be quite the challenge for many of the players looking to prove their worth and show that they should be playing in some capacity in Week 1.
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Steelers' DeMarvin Leal ahead of Pittsburgh's victory over the Charges in 2024.
However, there's one player in particular that may have lost his job already. During a Q&A chat, insider Brian Batko was asked about the status of fourth-year tweener DeMarvin Leal. He was very blunt with his analysis of him.
"Not good, to be quite honest with you," Batko said. "They're no longer using [DeMarvin Leal] on the D-line and he looks too bulky to me to be an effective OLB. If anyone needs a change of scenery, it's probably the 2022 third-round pick."
As a rookie, Leal showed some promise. The stats were not quite there, but he was still disruptive in his own right and helped other key players rack up big plays. It wasn't perfect, but there was definitely some upside there. All he had to do was work hard and continue to grow, and there would be a spot for him, whether it was on the defensive line, as an edge rusher, or both.
Jordan Schofield / Steeler Nation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Despite plenty of talent for Steelers defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal, he has disappointed in the early portions of his career.
He did the exact opposite of that in 2023. Leal regressed hard, was accused of being lazy, and was even benched and publicly called out by Head Coach Mike Tomlin. That year for him was an absolute disaster, as he was a healthy scratch repeatedly at the end of that year. The team was starting to lose faith in the former third-round pick, and they expected big changes out of him for 2024.
That ability to show those big changes were cut short. After playing just five games, he was placed on Injured Reserve (IR) for the rest of the season. He was already struggling in a backup role at the time, and that injury only hurt his chances of being on the team. However, he was not cut yet, so he had one more chance to prove himself before his contract expired. 2025 would be his last shot.
Batko's report does not bode well for Leal. The outside linebacker position is absolutely stacked, so the only way he has a chance to make the roster there is if someone gets hurt. If he's not playing on a defensive line that is very weak in terms of depth, there are serious problems. At this point, the Steelers are likely ready to just cut their losses and let him try again elsewhere.
Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter / X: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Steelers defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal (#98) stands on the field as Pittsburgh practices during 2022 training camp at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
Steelers' Plans For Leal
Like with other struggling young players, it won't be surprising to see the Steelers start shopping Leal now to see if they can get any sort of value from a team that could use a boost to the front lines of their defense. Even if it's just a Day 3 pick swap, they'll likely take any kind of compensation they can find. Maybe he truly does need a change of scenery, and there could be a team willing to find that untapped potential with the buy-low candidate.
If not, then the Steelers would just release him by roster cutdown day. Leal's tenure in Pittsburgh did not go the way anyone wanted at all, and he will likely be looking for a one-year deal to be a backup somewhere else. A mix of unfortunate circumstances and untimely choices doomed him by his second year in the league.
What do you think about Leal's struggles thus far in his career? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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