Demarvin
Leal.
Demarvin
Leal.
Texas A&M· 6'4"· 283 lb· 5.00s 40
Leal was Texas A&M's movable chess piece, a 290-pound lineman who took snaps at 3-technique, 5-technique and 6-technique. The organizing trait is first-step quickness for the size: he gains ground in a hurry off the snap and can turn a guard's late hand into a free lane before the pocket forms.
The second trait is agility in space. He redirects comfortably, gets skinny crossing faces, and pairs a jump-swipe with an inside spin that produced 12.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in 2021. The limit is power — he plays without a functional punch and gets washed by down blocks and doubles. The signature is versatility, which was also the question: alignment flexibility without a position he owned.
A one-gap penetrating front — 4-3 over or an odd nickel front that lets interior linemen shoot a gap rather than read and hold blocks.
Year 1: rotational sub-package 3-technique used on passing downs and stunts, 25-30 snaps a game. Ceiling: full-time penetrating 3-technique in an attacking front, 6-8 sacks with double-digit TFLs.
A two-gap 3-4 that asks the 5-technique to take on a tackle head-up, control the block and hold the edge against doubles — the exact assignment his anchor cannot survive.
The versatility is only an asset if the scheme still gives him a home base. Rotating him across the front without a primary alignment removes the one thing he needs: reps at a single technique.
Texas A&M DE DeMarvin Leal Highlights
Full reel of the alignment range — 3-tech penetration, 5-tech reps and the jump-swipe that fuels his interior wins.
2022 NFL Draft Prospect DeMarvin Leal DT/DE Texas A&M — 2021 Highlights
Junior-season cut behind the 12.5 TFL and 8.5 sacks, including the two-sack game against Mississippi State.
DeMarvin Leal OFFICIAL Career Mixtape
Career compilation useful for tracking how his weight and alignment shifted across three seasons.
Leal is a high-pedigree interior defender whose evaluation turns on one question: where does he actually line up? A five-star recruit who played every front alignment for the Aggies, he offers explosiveness and body control few 290-pound linemen match, and converts them into penetration whenever a blocker is late.
The 2021 production was real and it was awarded. He posted 58 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks, led the team in both disruption categories, and collected AP first-team All-America and first-team All-SEC honors as a Ted Hendricks Award finalist. The flags are physical. He has no anchor against doubles, no consistent leg drive to convert speed to power inside, and below-average bend when asked to rush from the edge — a profile that wins with quickness and stalls the moment an offensive lineman lands first.
The board split hard. Some outlets had him in the first round on traits and recruiting profile; others flagged him as better in theory than on tape, an incomplete projection at all three of his alignments. He weighed in at 283 at his pro day, lighter than his playing weight, which sharpened the question of whether he could hold up inside at all. Pittsburgh, a team that prizes front-seven versatility, took the swing at 84 and planned to move him around.
- 01
Get-off
Fires out of his stance with rare acceleration for a 290-pound lineman, gaining ground immediately and forcing guards to open early against interior speed.
- 02
Change of direction
Moves smoothly in space for his mass, redirecting across a blocker's face and staying balanced on stunts, twists and looping pressure designs.
- 03
Alignment versatility
Logged real reps at 3-technique, 5-technique and 6-technique for an SEC front, giving a coordinator a chess piece who can be moved by matchup.
- 04
Disruption production
Led Texas A&M with 12.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in 2021, tying for fifth in the SEC in sacks and ninth in TFLs as a junior.
- 05
Countermoves
Owns a reliable jump-swipe and an inside spin, and he strings them together rather than repeating the same rush plan for four quarters.
- 01
Anchor
Gets washed out of running lanes and cannot hold ground against doubles, which removes him from base downs in any front that asks him to two-gap.
- 02
Functional power
Plays with no punch and rarely works through a blocker; interior rushes stall once the guard lands first because the leg drive is not there.
- 03
Edge bend
Below-average ankle flexion and corner-turning ability when stood up outside, which caps the 5-technique-to-edge projection teams wanted to explore.
- 04
Undefined position
Alignment flexibility without ownership of any single spot; at 283 pounds he is light for the interior and heavy-legged for a true edge role.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.00sp50
- Vertical
- 27.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 106inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- 4.49sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Texas A&M | 12 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Texas A&M | 10 | 37 | 2.5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 2021 | Texas A&M | 12 | 58 | 8.5 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Career | — | 34 | 133 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
2020 and 2021 read directly from cfbstats (2020: 37 tackles, 7.0 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 3 PBU, 1 INT, 1 FF, 1 fumble return; 2021: 58 tackles, 12.5 TFL, 8.5 sacks, 2 PBU, 1 FF). cfbstats does not serve a 2019 page for him, so the freshman line is derived from the career totals reported by CFBTrack (133 tackles, 25 TFL, 13 sacks) minus the two verified seasons; pass breakups, interceptions, forced fumbles and recoveries for 2019 are left null rather than assumed. Season totals sum exactly to the career line.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Athletic college producer without a defined pro alignment who settles into rotational interior snaps.
Long, athletic front-seven piece who made the inside-outside versatility work by adding real play strength.
Tweener with no true position who never found a home on an NFL front and was out of the league within a few seasons.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
DeMarvin Leal has played two seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers, serving as a rotational defensive lineman. He has shown potential but has not yet established himself as a consistent impact player.
Pittsburgh used him exactly as advertised and never found the fit. He played 11 games with two starts as a rookie in 2022, logging 14 tackles around an October trip to injured reserve. In 2023 he appeared in 11 games with four starts and recorded 15 tackles and the lone sack of his NFL career. A neck injury suffered against Dallas in Week 5 of 2024 ended that season after five games and 77 defensive snaps. He worked mostly as an outside linebacker in the summer of 2025, lost the roster battle behind T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig and Jack Sawyer, and bounced between the practice squad and the active roster before being waived in November and released again in January 2026. The Giants signed him to a futures deal that month and released him in April 2026. Four NFL seasons produced 31 games, six starts, 28 tackles and 1.0 sacks.
In hindsight the pre-draft dissent was the accurate read. The traits that made him a five-star recruit and an All-American junior — burst, body control, alignment range — never survived contact with professional offensive linemen, because the missing piece was always power, and power is the one thing a 283-pound interior rusher cannot fake. Pittsburgh's versatility bet also worked against him: he never settled long enough anywhere to master a technique. This was a third-round pick on a player the tape had already labeled incomplete.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2022 NFL draft player selections table.