{"id":263873,"date":"2025-08-05T14:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/263873\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T14:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:17:08","slug":"steelers-demarvin-leal-primed-for-one-last-push-for-roster-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/263873\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers’ DeMarvin Leal Primed For One Last Push For Roster Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

If this is DeMarvin Leal on his last legs, then perhaps he should have stood on them some time ago. The fourth-year defender, facing a battle for a roster spot, is making a case for himself in the early goings. Not only has he bulked up, but he has retained his versatility, playing everywhere from edge to defensive tackle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A third-round pick out of Texas A&M in 2022, DeMarvin Leal has generally been an athlete first, football player second. Last offseason, he seemed to take a significant step forward, just in how he carried himself professionally. Unfortunately for him, an injury robbed him of most of the season, and now he is on the ropes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since last year, the Steelers have added two veterans and two rookies of note to the mix. They signed Daniel Ekuale and Esezi Otomewo, later drafting Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black. Harmon should be a rookie starter, and Ekuale and Black are reasonably secure roster bets. Leal finds himself battling Otomewo, Isaiahh Loudermilk, Logan Lee, and others for a sixth and potentially final roster spot.<\/p>\n

Many seem to assume the Steelers will carry seven defensive linemen, but that remains more of an outlier than the norm. But if DeMarvin Leal can be versatile enough to play on the edge<\/a>, that is almost like an extra spot.<\/p>\n

So, how is he doing? If you\u2019ve been following Alex Kozora\u2019s training camp diary<\/a>, you should be surprised. He wrote after Sunday\u2019s practice rather positively about the fourth-year lineman. Although he admitted the path to a roster spot is vulnerable, he is impressing:<\/p>\n

Nice camp for EDGE DeMarvin Leal. He\u2019s rushing with a better and more effective plan, and his size is a problem for tight ends. Probably why the team wanted to keep him at outside linebacker. He\u2019s really athletic and versatile. The fit has always been an issue but it\u2019s a good summer, judging it without roster construction consideration. Still a tough path to stick but not impossible.<\/p>\n

The Steelers really have used him a lot at outside linebacker this camp, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean he is now an outside linebacker. Besides, in a defense that plays out of base nearly three-fourths of the time, that\u2019s actually a good thing. A 3-4 nickel is essentially a 4-3 front, and DeMarvin Leal best profiles, traditionally, as a 4-3 defensive end.<\/p>\n

Of course, this is all practice. The preseason games<\/a> and how the Steelers use Leal will be telling. Right now, I assume they\u2019re getting a feel for how he looks on the outside. They are strengthening one of his many tools, and I\u2019m guessing we\u2019ll see him on special teams running down kicks, too. He\u2019s not about to give up his roster spot without a fight, but a fight is exactly what he\u2019s facing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If this is DeMarvin Leal on his last legs, then perhaps he should have stood on them some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[10037,7,6,520,57,2360,426,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-263873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-demarvin-leal","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers","15":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114976590763887949","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}