The Steelers added beef to their defensive interior by selecting Wisconsin defensive tackle Keeanu Benton with the 49th overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, in the second round, Friday evening.
The 2022 third-team All-Big Ten selection tallied 36 tackles, 10.0 for loss and 4.5 sacks in 12 games for Wisconsin last season, as a senior.
He burst onto the Steelers' radar as a result of a strong Senior Bowl performance in Mobile, Ala. There, Benton stood out as a space eater with the potential to grow more fluidly as a pass rusher.
Big Nu to the Steel City#OnWisconsin | #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/VuKkVttST6
β Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) April 29, 2023
Adding to the defense πͺ
β Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 29, 2023
πΊ: #NFLDraft on NFLN pic.twitter.com/1q44E0jWbF
"I feel like it was the place for me and the place that I felt comfortable at," Benton said in a conference call with reporters after the selection. "Got T.J. Watt there, Isaiahh Loudermilk, and then Nate Herbig, so I feel pretty comfortable going in as a rookie with these guys. ... I think it's just a place that I can develop my game. I'm not sure where they want me to play at just yet, but I'm just ready to take off on my NFL career."
Benton was college teammates with Loudermilk and Herbig, and Watt is a fellow Wisconsin alumnus.
"I think it's awesome. I've never got a chance to play with him, but I'm pumped to," Benton added about Watt.
The Janesville, Wis., native earned an NFL Next Gen Stats grade of 71 at the NFL Combine to rank sixth among defensive tackles. He measured at 6-foot-4, 309 pounds with a 33 7/8-inch arm length and a 9 3/4-inch hand width. He tested in every event at the Combine, and looked pretty nimble while doing so.
Among Combine DTs, his 5.08 40-yard dash finished eighth, his 29.5-inch vertical and his 9-foot-3 broad jump each tied for fifth, his 7.34 three-cone finished second, his 4.65 shuttle fourth, and his 25 bench press reps fifth.
"Big, strong guy, really active, good hands," Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said after the Benton pick. "For a big guy, you'll see him venture outside the box, chasing things down. He's got a good motor. You can see he's in really good shape. When he plays, he plays a lot of snaps. Sometimes you'll watch guys and they're splitting snaps with other guys. He's an '80 percent guy, an 85 percent guy.' He keeps himself in really good shape, really good competitive spirit. Big, strong guy. Like him."
Austin added Benton "seems like he's got his stuff together" and that one can tell from his tape that he has polished experienced at the college level. Benton played in 39 games spanning his four seasons, including 12 in each of his last two seasons. He was the 58th-ranked player on Pro Football Focus' big board, and he earned an 83.5 pass-rushing grade within their system last season.
"Really seems like he's got his stuff together, and I know Denzel (Martin) and Grady (Brown) had an opportunity to work with him at the Senior Bowl, and they spoke highly of him, so everything that the background stuff that we seemed to be looking at and looking for, he passed all of those tests," Austin said.
Austin added that Benton will "probably" start out as a nose tackle, and then he will "see what he can do as a 3- or a 4i for us."
"He's a big body, but he's not one of those guys -- he's not a two-down guy. He'll have some chance to be a guy that can move out, play on third down, and do some things in terms of penetrating and rushing and all those things, so we'll probably start him inside as a nose and let him kind of grow into it and see what he does. But, he's not strictly that."
Keeanu Benton here at #Badgers Pro Day. pic.twitter.com/YN09IOwIWu
β Rohan Chakravarthi (@RohanChakrav) March 23, 2023
The Steelers brought back Larry Ogunjobi and signed free-agents Breiden Fehoko and Armon Watts over the offseason for their depth up the middle to go alongside Cam Heyward, DeMarvin Leal, and Loudermilk.
"I'm just grateful to have the opportunity, and I think that they have a similar set to us at Wisconsin. I'm just happy to get it started," Benton said. "... It's awesome. I feel like it's just something that I've been waiting on my whole life, to be an NFL player, and the Steelers have never been a bad taste in my mouth with anything. I feel like the Steelers have been a goo team since I've known about football, so I'm just happy and blessed to be here."
