Steelers camp report: DE DeMarvin Leal escapes serious ankle injury in 1-on-1 drill
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For the second day in a row, it looked like the Pittsburgh Steelers might lose a promising young player to a serious injury.
One day after rookie cornerback Cory Trice left on a cart with a right knee injury that landed him on injured reserve, second-year defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal went down clutching his ankle on the final play of a drill against offensive linemen.
Fortunately for Leal, he got to his feet and walked off the field on his own power and remained on the sideline for the rest of the workout.
Coach Mike Tomlin labeled Leal’s ankle injury as “minor.”
That brought a sigh of relief from offensive lineman Nate Herbig, who was blocking Leal on the play when the injury occurred.
“I really hope he’s OK,” Herbig said. “Freak accidents happen out there.”
Tomlin purposely pitted Herbig and Leal against each other in the individual matchup. Near the end of the drill, it was expanded to two-on-two and three-on-three competition. That’s when Leal fell to the grass in pain.
“I think he got rolled up on,” Herbig said. “We never want that to happen. I’m going to try to check on him. That’s my boy. I love getting to work with him.”
Herbig was part of another development that took place during the two-hour practice. A guard last season with the New York Jets, Herbig took snaps as the second-team center, a move that dropped Kendrick Green to the third team.
Herbig worked with backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
“I feel like my snaps were pretty good for the most part,” he said. “That’s the most important thing in the C-Q exchange.”
Herbig took a few reps last week at center before the Steelers donned pads. His previous work at center came from 2019-21 when he was Jason Kelce’s backup with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Steelers could be auditioning Herbig to fill the role that J.C. Hassenauer held last year.
“Almost every preseason game (with the Eagles) I had reps at center,” he said. “It’s getting back on that bike.”
Safety Damontae Kazee sat out another practice with an ankle injury. Minkah Fitzpatrick continued to be excused for a personal matter. Tomlin said safety Keanu Neal and wide receiver Diontae Johnson were being monitored for undisclosed minor ailments.