The Steelers waived former third-round pick DeMarvin Leal on Thursday, a move that felt inevitable for quite some time now. He already missed the 53-man roster initially, only promoted from the practice squad due to injury. Three years on, many continue to wonder why they ever drafted him in the first place, because it never seemed likely to work.
“In terms of [DeMarvin] Leal, listen”, Ray Fittipaldo said on 93.7 The Fan this week. “He is a ‘tweener in this defense, and his weight fluctuated. He was up and down. I’m not sure if they asked him to add weight. But he could just never find his niche here. Maybe he’ll go find his niche somewhere else, but it was never gonna be here”.
A 2022 third-round pick out of Texas A&M, DeMarvin Leal was part of Kevin Colbert’s final draft class. Over a four-year period, albeit with some injuries, he hasn’t even cracked 500 snaps. This year, he has only dressed for three games, logging 17 snaps.
This year, the Steelers actually moved Leal to outside linebacker. While flashes of his athleticism were evident, he never fully put it all together. It seemed he was always too small for the line and too big for the edge. That’s why some believe he is better off playing in a 4-3 front, but first, we’ll have to see if he finds that opportunity.
After all, as already mentioned, the Steelers did waive Leal. And he cleared waivers, meaning every team in the NFL had a shot to claim him. They did immediately sign him to the practice squad the second he cleared waivers.
Cool moments at practice today: as guys cleared waivers and signed to the Steelers’ PS, they ran out on the field and joined the stretches pic.twitter.com/ZvhFCKNjZM
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) August 27, 2025
Despite their swing and a miss with DeMarvin Leal, Fittipaldo doesn’t think that will deter the Steelers from taking chances on athletes. “Back in the day, they were always projecting outside linebackers out of college”, he said. “I don’t know if I blame the player or if I blame the coach. It was just a bad match from the outset. Good luck to him, but I don’t think it was a particularly big loss for that defense”.
Of course it’s not, because Leal only played a handful of snaps for the Steelers this year. He was far down the depth chart, and they just signed a new defensive lineman. But high draft picks and athletes always see extra opportunities, because you want to be sure you’re not missing something.
I’ll admit DeMarvin Leal is always a player that I watched to see if that proverbial light would come on. It did to a large degree for Bud Dupree. In theory, it still could for Leal. At this point, though, it’s far more likely to happen somewhere else than it is in Pittsburgh.
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