Continuing the series, I wanted to look at defensive tackles, where Pittsburgh selected Keeanu Benton at pick 49 in the second round. Following my 2022 run defense and pass rush studies on him, as well as a 2021 run defense article, today’s goal is to look at pass rushing in the 2021 season using Sports Info Solutions (SIS). The article will focus on the players who heard their names called in the 2023 NFL draft, 300+ pounders that will likely play on the interior (as Benton is projected to), and one player was excluded due to SIS not tracking smaller schools. The goal is to see how Benton stacked up among his peers.
First, let’s look at pass snaps along with their total snaps to get a gauge of the players opportunities, and how often they were on the field for their squads last season:
Benton landed above the mean in both, with 231 pass snaps and 437 total snaps which each ranked fourth out of the 13 qualifying players. He played a similar number of snaps in 2022, with 420 total snaps and 217 pass snaps, which were lower in the ranks (eighth, tenth) his final season. This highlights a more consistent role as opposed to growing opportunities in Benton’s final two seasons for Wisconsin, which is important context as we look forward to his rookie year and continue through the article today.
Next, let’s look at the percentages that the players rushed the passer on pass plays, along with Sports Info Solutions positive play %, defined as the rate of pass plays with the player on the field that resulted in a positive expected points added (EPA), with lower percentages being the best:
What jumps out right away is Jalen Carter’s stellar positive percentage, comfortably topping the ranks for Georgia in the 2021 season. Then we see Benton, who ranked second in this regard (34.1%) and was in the 99th percentile in rush percentage (as most defensive tackles are), at 99.6% which tied for sixth most. His positive rate ranked higher in 2021, compared to a 41% positive percentage last season which ranked sixth on a similar rush rate. So, when pass rushing for the Badgers, Benton had more of an impact for his team in 2021 overall, and was encouragingly above average in each of his final two seasons. Hopefully he can bring this to the black and gold, who have lacked that presence from the interior, the most direct and best place to generate pass rush in my opinion.
Speaking of pass rushing impact, let’s look at essential numbers for the topic, pressure and sack percentages:
In 2021, Benton had a 7.8% pressure rate which ranked sixth, along with a 1.1% sack percentage that landed at fifth which were both above average. This included 2.5 sacks and 18 pressures, compared to last year when he upped his production in both, with 4.5 sacks and 22 pressures that ranked respectably second and third. While his overall team impact was stronger in 2021, he capitalized and provided more stat production his final season. This is a very encouraging positive trajectory in his final two years that can hopefully carry over to Pittsburgh, who would definitely welcome this sort of presence and production on the interior to complete a scary pass rushing attack for the black and gold (when healthy).
To close, here is a more total view of the players as pass rushers using points saved per rush (the total of a player’s EPA responsibility on pass plays using the Total Points system that distributes credit among all players on the field for a given play (with positive numbers being good). Totals are scaled up to map to the average points scored or allowed on a team level, with the player’s snap count determining how much to adjust.
For pass rushers, this includes accounting for sacks, blown blocks forced, turnovers, turnover returns, and other disruptions at the line of scrimmage. Values are modulated using a quality-of-competition multiplier based on each opponent’s previous year of performance.) and points above average per play (using the same Total Points system and putting a number to their value above an average level player):
In this more total view, Benton landed atop the chart with the best points saved per rush number, along with tying with Carter for first in points above average per play. This is extremely encouraging, especially when factoring in his consistently high ranks last season as well, when he was second in each. Very encouraging results overall among the big men in the middle in the 2023 NFL Draft.
So, Benton was above the mean in every aspect of the study in 2021, including top five ranks in points saved per rush (first), points above average per play (T-first), positive rate (second), snap opportunities (fourth), and sack percentage (fifth). He was also impressively above average in every facet last season except for opportunities, highlighting more consistent snap totals rather than increased workload. Benton also showed toughness to play in every game his final two years, playing through injuries each season which is excellent and hopefully carries over to Pittsburgh, and provided high quality on the field as a pass rusher compared to his peers.
Pairing this with solid results in the run game as well, where he also played well and made notable improvements, I’m extremely optimistic that Benton can man the middle and complete a scary three headed monster on the defensive line, along with the Steelers edge rushers that already keep quarterbacks up at night.
Throughout the rest of the offseason, I will dive deeper into the data as we continue to learn about the newest Pittsburgh Steelers. How do you think Keeanu Benton will fare his rookie year? Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
