DeMarvin Leal. What is he? That’s the question the Pittsburgh Steelers must answer. And they could respond in a dozen different ways.
Leal was drafted a tweener, something in-between an edge rusher and interior player. One year into his pro career and that hasn’t changed. Initially, the Steelers planned to bulk him up and did, getting his weight up over 300 pounds in the summer. In the preseason, he logged 91 snaps, all as a down lineman and over 26% of his snaps came in Pittsburgh’s base 3-4 defense. It was a similar story in Week One, all 16 of his snaps with his hand down though 15 of them came in sub-packages.