In the first true look at the crop of rookies that the Pittsburgh Steelers brought in via the 2023 NFL Draft, there were expected to be some ups and downs in the preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
No player is going to be perfect in a game, especially at the NFL level, but second-round defensive tackle Keeanu Benton certainly tried his hardest to achieve that perfection, putting together a sparkling performance in his NFL debut on the road.
Seeing second-team reps behind Montravius Adams at nose tackle, Benton came into the game in the second quarter and largely wrecked the interior of Tampa Bay’s offensive line before exiting with an ankle injury.
Benton flashed his skills as a run-plugging defensive tackle, showing off great athleticism and explosion on the interior, and even had some pass rush chops that he broke out in the preseason opener, making for a very good night from the Wisconsin product.
While other players are garnering more attention from the 27-17 win over Tampa Bay, I wanted to highlight Benton’s showing via a film room. Let’s dive in.
Quickly in his NFL debut, Benton showed off great explosion and short-area quickness.
Fast, efficient swim move to beat center Ron Hainsey at the snap. Then he does a great job getting skinny and defeating the reach block from Tampa Bay rookie guard Cody Mauch, knifing into the backfield.
While he doesn’t make the play, the disruption is huge. It blows the play up from the start, allowing his fellow defenders to flow and make the play for a short gain. You’d like to see him stay on his feet here and finish the play, but that’s a very clear, quick win from the rookie in one of his first snaps in an NFL stadium.
On the very next drive from Tampa Bay, Benton learned from the previous drive and finished the play at the line of scrimmage against the run.
Again, a quick swim to beat Hainsey at the snap and then the power to get skinny, defeat the reach block and make the play.
That is really impressive stuff from Benton. He was a ready-made run defender coming into the NFL, at least according to defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, but it’s really eye-opening to see him dominating reps right away in the NFL.
If he can continue to play with this type of short-area explosion and ability to penetrate into the backfield, look out.
One thing I wanted to see from Benton was some pass rush prowess. It wasn’t exactly his calling card in college with just 9.0 career sacks in four years at Wisconsin, but there were flashes on tape.
Now in a system in Pittsburgh that is letting him open up a bit, hopefully there’s more of that to come from Benton. He flashed some juice against the Buccaneers.
Good, powerful club to stun Hainsey and then a quick swim to get past for the win. The left guard is there for help, but Benton got upfield so quickly that he’s hip to hip with left guard Aaron Stinnie, making it very difficult for Stinnie to truly help.
In the end, Benton gets tripped up, but that’s a fantastic rep and win in the passing game from Benton. I hope we’re able to see more of that moving forward.
Benton’s best play of the night, at least in my opinion, came on the fourth-and-1 stop near midfield in the second quarter.
Benton doesn’t get credit for the tackle here, but being able to stay low, burrow his way under Hainsey and blow up the play is terrific.
In short-yardage situations, low man wins and that’s exactly what Benton did. He fired off low and hard, uprooted Hainsey into the backfield, blowing up the play in the process. That allowed fellow defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk to come in and clean up the rep for the tackle for los and turnover on downs.
That’s a good defensive line working together in situational football. You love to see it.
The swim move from Benton against the run, especially head-up on the center, is lethal.
He won consistently with the move in the run game when lined up over or shaded on the center Friday night.
Benton does it again here, jumping into the A-gap with the swim and then having the lateral agility to make a play on the running back. That is impressive side-to-side explosion to jump around Hainsey’s reach block. While it might not be an ideal play with Benton’s jump to the side essentially blocking himself if Hainsey was ready for it, his ability to make the play is eye-opening.
There is certainly something there with the second-round pick in the run game.
One of his final reps of the night was terrific, too. Tampa’s interior offensive line was largely sick of dealing with Benton.
Great get-off here to read the reach-and-run block from Mauch at right guard. Benton does a terrific job of getting his left hand into Mauch’s chest to establish control and leverage. From there, Benton does a great job of hip tossing Mauch aside and making the play in the backfield for the big run stop.
He doesn’t run himself out of the play, and the power is fully on display in the rep.
On the night, Benton played 28 snaps and was impressive overall. It’s just one showing, but there’s a lot to love with what Benton showed, especially against the run. We’ll see if that earns him more opportunities with the first-team defense, but it was quite the debut for the Wisconsin product.
