While only one of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ second-round picks signed his contract today, both of the team’s Round Two selections made the list for the Bootleg Podcast’s favorite draft pickups across the entire AFC North. As we wrote days ago, hosts Brett Kollmann and EJ Snyder are high on the Steelers, Kollmann especially optimistic, and that’s partially built on what Omar Khan and company did in April’s draft.
In the show’s review of the AFC North, they named their favorite picks across the entire division. Funny enough, they turned out to be Pittsburgh’s back-to-back selections in the second round.
Snyder spoke first and chose Benton as his favorite draft choice.
“I love the Keeanu Benton fit,” he said. “I loved him as a player…I was very high on Keeanu Benton. I feel like he can become the next ‘one’ in Pittsburgh. Dominant, physical nose tackle who has more pass rush ability than people gave him credit for.”
Pittsburgh grabbed Benton with the 49th overall pick, their original second-round selection, and he checked all the boxes for what the Steelers look for. The size, strength, character, and scheme fit, both in what he did at Wisconsin and how he slides into Pittsburgh, two defenses rooted in the same principles. Their pre-draft interest in him was also obvious with the Steelers bringing him in for a pre-draft visit.
Given the team’s need at nose tackle and the general smooth transition to play in the middle, Benton should be the team’s Day One starting nose tackle while also offering sub-package help. As Snyder pointed out — and the team made clear after the pick — Benton can rush the passer, too. His sack production won’t be off the charts, but he should be able to create pressure and win 1v1 matchups.
Kollmann went with Porter as his favorite pick, citing the harmony with his skill set inside the Steelers’ scheme.
“When you look at schematically at how the Steelers want to run things, it is a lot of man coverage…they couldn’t really make that work in previous years, especially last year when your most expensive corner cost like $4 million,” he said. “They just didn’t have the dudes to do that. Joey Porter Jr. should immediately be able to step in and be a solid, if not better than solid, press-man corner. And allow them to run the scheme they want to run. They want to play man coverage and dare you to beat it.”
Pittsburgh’s vision at corner is obvious. Taking Porter and Cory Trice Jr. in the same class shows the Steelers want big, physical, man-coverage corners. While Porter and Trice have their nuanced differences — Porter is a bit longer, Trice has better ball skills — they’re cut from a similar cloth.
While Kollmann’s focus on salary is a little short-sighted, it’s not like Porter will be making a lot of money as a rookie while Patrick Peterson got paid and is a questionable, it’s true having a guy like Porter better fits the team’s mission.
Overall, it’s high praise to name two Steelers as their favorite picks across the entire AFC North. The conference boasted some good draft classes, on both sides of the ball, with the Baltimore Ravens nabbing WR Zay Flowers in the first round, the Cincinnati Bengals taking solid players in DE Myles Murphy and CB DJ Turner, and the Cleveland Browns finding some mid-round value in WR Cedric Tillman and OT Dawand Jones.
Pittsburgh should see immediate returns on its draft class. Benton should start right away while first-round pick OT Broderick Jones could join him. Porter may not technically be a starter but he’ll hit the field in Week One while TE Darnell Washington should be the team’s #2 tight end and play in 12 personnel. LB Nick Herbig could be a core special teamer out of the gate while Trice has a chance to carve out a dime-package role. Even Spencer Anderson’s versatility gives him a shot to make the team.
Of course, everything looks good on paper in the middle of June, but the Steelers should get a feel for the true strength of their rookie class right away.
Catch the whole conversation below.
