NFL Draft Grades 2022: Re-grading the Pittsburgh Steelers draft one year later
By Tommy Jaggi
55. . . DeMarvin Leal. player. . Defensive Line. 3
Steelers DL DeMarvin Leal
I was really excited about DeMarvin Leal when the Steelers were able to land him with the 84th overall pick in round three last April. The former five-star recruit was the number two overall defensive tackle in the nation coming out of high school, according to 247 Sports. My hope was that Pittsburgh would be able to unlock the potential of the 21-year-old and find a role for him on defense.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned during his rookie season. Leal was a bit of a tweener in a negative way coming out of college in that he didn't have enough speed to stick as an edge defender in the NFL, but he was undersized compared to interior pass rushers.
Leal landed on IR for much of his rookie season. When he did see the field, Pittsburgh would oftentimes have him lined up on the edge as their depth was greatly lacking with T.J. Watt out and Malik Reed struggling.
I'm not giving up on Leal yet, and it's hard to take much from his rookie season, but he's going to need to take a big step forward in year two. Leal played just 175 defensive snaps during his first year and graded out poorly.