Steelers Film Room: DeMarvin Leal's Impressive Pass Rushing Toolbox
The Pittsburgh Steelers narrowly defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars to bring their preseason record to 2-0. Several rookies made substantial impacts on the game's outcome but today's film room revolves around their third-round pick, DeMarvin Leal. The rookie out of Texas A&M registered his first sack as a pro, notching back-to-back impressive weeks as a pass rusher.
Coming off an 8.5 sack junior season for the Aggies, Leal declared early despite his draft stock falling from where it was in the Summer of 2021. The Pittsburgh Steelers were the beneficiaries of that slide as the NFL just might have gifted them another special pass rusher. His reputation as a strong pass rusher has translated to the next level as he's already making a name for himself as a disruptive force on the field.
Last week in the film room, we discussed Leal's cross-chop rip move which has seemingly become his go-to move early on in his NFL career. This week, he used it to finally get home after accumulating a couple of pressures on the quarterback last week.
Leal forced the right guard to show his hands early and lunge. He takes his inside right arm and swipes down at the blockers outside hand before ripping underneath to win the rep. Upon contact, you can also see some impressive bend for an interior rusher as he's able to easily flatten towards the quarterback and avoid being ran up the field as his man tries to recover.
This version of the cross-chop is sometimes referred to as the "superman" and the player often credited for the variation is Indianapolis Colts star pass rusher, Yannick Ngakoue. In order for an offensive lineman to counter this move, they must stay balanced and patient with showing their hands. This variation disrupts the punch timing of blockers and frequently throws them out of rhythm.
A big part of being a successful rusher at this level is learning how to sequence moves together, keeping offensive linemen guessing on what could come next. Leal's very next rep on the final drive was a quality example of this. As the center slides to the opposite direction, Leal is left with essentially a two-way go and a ton of space to work with.
The rookie elects to go with a nifty inside spin move that leaves the right guard completely off balance as he's barely able to get a hand on him. Leal shows impressive explosiveness as he flips his hips inside before using his left arm to "ice pick" the blocker's backside, allowing him a free run to the passer. If this is anything but a quick three-step drop in quick game, Leal could have potentially got registered back-to-back sacks on this drive.
Despite limited playing time in the preseason, Leal's flashed in a plethora of different ways. While he's not quite there as a run defender, you can see flashes of what he could become in the future. While this run goes to the other side, this is an excellent push/pull move that results in him easily slinging his blocker to the turf. Despite being away from the play originally, his willingness to pursue from behind until the whistle is also something that will assuredly garner praise from the coaching staff.
After bulking up from his NFL combine appearance, Leal has evidently maintained every bit of his quickness and explosiveness despite playing heavier than he did in college. At Texas A&M, he played up and down their defensive front which gave him a ton of experience attacking from different alignments. What made me so bullish about the fit in Pittsburgh was Leal's ability to rush the passer with his already incredibly diverse toolbox of moves.
You're already starting to see that translate to the next level, albeit against backup offensive lineman in the preseason. Even rushing from the defensive tackle spot, Leal's ability to win with finesse can give opposing blockers a difficult challenge on every rep. With the final preseason game approaching, it'll be interesting to see if Coach Tomlin gives Leal an opportunity to enter the game a little bit earlier in order to face some more difficult competition.
Pittsburgh's defensive line is arguably their strongest positional group and is vastly deep from top to bottom. Meaning that Leal might not be a significant contributor early on in the regular season but that time should come sooner rather than later. With all due respect to both Chris Wormley and Isaiahh Loudermilk, Leal just has more passing rushing juice and upside than either of those guys.
After last season's defensive front was derailed by injuries, these are good problems to have, though. Given his abundant talent, it seems likely that Leal could carve himself out a role as a pass rusher later in his rookie season and compete for a starting spot on the Steelers' defensive line in year two. No one gets after opposing quarterbacks like the Pittsburgh Steelers and the pipeline of pass rushers doesn't seem to be coming to a halt anytime soon.
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