Mike's Beer Bar War Room: It didn't take long to see Benton's potential

LATROBE, Pa. -- In his first taste of NFL action, Keeanu Benton didn't wait very long to impress. Even though his performance was cut short, Benton did enough to raise a few eyebrows and provide optimism for the Steelers' defensive front.

In the game against Tampa Bay, Benton played 28 of a possible 73 defensive snaps before exiting the game with an ankle injury. It looks as though the Steelers and Benton avoided a major injury. He is unlikely to miss a substantial amount of time. 

But, let’s focus on those 28 snaps and what Benton has done on the practice field at Saint Vincent College. Simply put, Benton was dominant against the Buccaneers. 

Benton played nine snaps aligned as a nose tackle and 18 snaps lined up in the B Gap. He is much more than just the classic nose tackle and won’t be used as such with the Steelers. Last year, Tyson Alualu was on the field for 291 snaps and Montravius Adams for 281. The Steelers were in their 3-4 for just 29% of their snaps for the season. But, unlike Alualu and Adams, expect Benton to help the Steelers much more during his rookie season than as just an early-down nose tackle. 

Cam Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi surely will get the bulk of the action inside with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith coming off the edge when the Steelers are in a four-man front. But, Benton and DeMarvin Leal, another promising youngster, are likely to spell Heyward and Ogunjobi, which is a great situation for all, as well as developing talented players for down the road. 

Last year at Wisconsin, Benton aligned as a nose tackle 190 times and in a 'B' gap on 233 occasions. And, don’t be surprised if Benton aligns between Heyward and Ogunjobi before long when the Steelers are in their base 3-4 defense.

After becoming a starter for the Badgers in 2021, Benton recorded eight sacks, six of which came in his final season in college. But, more impressively, Benton rushed the passer 482 snaps and pressured the quarterback 49 times during that two-year stretch, all while often drawing double teams. 

Benton is an elite tackle-shedder with immense upper body strength and regularly shocks his opponent with his sledgehammer hands upon initial contact. He plays very hard with aggression and a consistent motor that rarely idles. That intensity should endear Benton to Heyward, and with the demeanor the Steelers require their big men on defense to play the game. 

As shown by Benton’s 7.34 3-cone score at the Combine, which is in about the 88th percentile for his position, he can also redirect, change directions and show some slipperiness for a big man. While Benton’s pad level can be problematic at times and still needs more refinement, he is a force against the run with his hands, power and desire. When Benton keeps his pads down, he can dominate. 

And dominate is exactly what Benton did in his first NFL preseason game. He entered the game to start the second quarter and immediately impacted the game. Just watch:

Benton shows excellent quickness off the ball with good pad level on this play. But, it is his quick powerful hands that really stand out on his way to stuffing Tampa Bay’s running back behind the line of scrimmage.

On the following play, a second-and-21 passing situation, Benton doesn’t make the play and gets tripped up on his way to Baker Mayfield. But, just check out the power he gets on his right-hand slap that simply stuns Tampa Bay’s center. If the left guard hadn’t bailed out the center, Mayfield would have taken a big shot from the Steelers' rookie. 

This is a fourth-and-1 situation. Nothing kills a short yardage run play like instant interior penetration. While Benton didn’t make the tackle, his role was critical to this fourth down stop without question. 

Here Benton takes on and handles a double team. He sticks with the play until late in the down and eventually helps bring Kyle Trask to the ground for a sack. 

This was Benton’s first snap in the second half. He explodes into the backfield with a quick swim move and finishes off the ball carrier in no time.  

Now, this is really impressive. Benton simply abuses the center immediately. He then is very abrupt to change directions, find the running back and destroy Tampa Bay’s run game. 

The competition will be more challenging for Benton going forward. But, all indicators strongly suggest that the Steelers have a keeper in this young man who just recently turned 22 years old.