The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up one of their craziest offseasons in history with the right move: they signed T.J. Watt to an extension. While training camp will have its share of notable news, the bulk of the excitement is done.
Unfortunately for DeMarvin Leal, his Steelers career also appears done.
Drafted in the third round, there was a lot of excitement surrounding the former Aggie. At one point in time, he was seen as a potential first-round pick, and he was extremely productive in school.
His time in Pittsburgh wasn’t the same. It seems like the biggest issue was where to play him. While mostly a defensive lineman in school, he was slightly undersized to play a base end role here. Instead, the Steelers tried him all over the place and to lackluster results.
Now, with Watt officially back, there is no reason for the team to hold onto this former draft bust. The Leal experiment should end soon.
The Pittsburgh Steelers just blocked Leal’s path to the roster
When you make the choice to have a player be a versatile one with multiple roles, you still need to have a defined plan as to how to use them. Think about former Rams defender Michael Hoecht. He would serve as an outside linebacker in base packages before kicking inside as a defensive tackle on passing downs.
The Steelers had no such plane. Leal started off working along the defensive line. Injuries forced him to edge rusher, before the team kicked him back to the defensive line, and then back to edge rusher, before finally announcing him as just an edge rusher last offseason.
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That kind of wishy-washy approach won’t work for anyone, and Leal suffered because of it. Now it doesn’t matter where he plays; both rooms are full, so there is no path to the roster for him.
Had Watt’s holdout gone into camp, he would have had the opportunity to get more reps at edge rusher. Had Watt been traded, he could have snuck onto the roster with an impressive camp.
Now, he is buried on the edge rusher depth chart, and the defensive line room has seemingly moved on without him. Unless something just clicks and he looks unstoppable, there is no chance for him sticking around.
Given his pedigree, he could be a potential trade candidate. It would likely be a conditional late-round pick for a team that doesn’t want to risk him going to waivers. I find that unlikely though.
Instead, he is likely cut sooner than later, and he will have to hope that he can find his new home somewhere else in the NFL. There is no way around it: the Steelers messed up that pick, and he serves as yet another draft bust from the Kevin Colbert era.