The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up their preseason on Thursday night with an uninspiring victory over the Carolina Panthers.
Now, the team will turn its attention to cutdown day, which falls on Aug. 26, and The Athletic's Mike DeFabo has already made his projection.
In it, he has Pittsburgh cutting 2022 third-round pick DeMarvin Leal, who DeFabo has listed with the outside linebackers after the Texas A&M product repped at the position during the offseason. Instead, Leal lands on the practice squad.
Here's what he wrote on that:
Leal, a tweener body type, played primarily outside linebacker this training camp. He made a strong push in his final preseason game, making three tackles and putting some heat on the quarterback. However, it may not be enough to crack the 53-man roster.
DeFabo has the Steelers keeping T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig and Jack Sawyer at outside linebacker, and Cam Heyward, Keeanu Benton, Derrick Harmon, Yahya Black, Daniel Ekuale, Logan Lee and Isaiahh Loudermilk on the defensive line.
Leal has been a major disappointment for the Steelers over three seasons and is coming off a campaign in which he appeared in just five games due to injury.
While nobody would be surprised if Leal is cut, the Steelers might decide to hold on to him following the injury to Harmon on Thursday night, but that will depend upon how long he's out.
Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Harmon is dealing with a knee sprain and "is expected to be out at least a couple weeks."
With two-plus weeks left until Week 1, that might give Harmon enough time to be ready for the regular-season opener. At most, he might miss a game or two.
If that's the case, that might not be a long enough absence for the Steelers to keep an extra defensive lineman, which could spell the end of Leal's time in the Steel City.
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