When team captain and face of the franchise Cameron Heyward went down with an injury in Week One, eventually landing him on Injured Reserve after surgery on his groin, there was a general sense of concern that was greatly heightened due to the position group that lost its leader.
Though the Steelers did a nice job in the offseason of adding some depth and overall experience in the trenches on the defensive side of the football in free agency and through the draft, there is no real replacing Cameron Heyward.
Rookie Keeanu Benton is certainly trying to do his best impression though.
Benton was a force once again on Sunday night in Week Three on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Wisconsin product recorded his first career sack, taking down Jimmy Garoppolo after winning with a quick, beautiful swim move on the inside over Raiders center Andre James.
Then, Benton drew a holding call one play later by working through Raiders guard Dylan Parham. A few plays after that Benton really looked like Heyward, using a long arm on a great bull rush to send Parham back into the lap of Garoppolo, allowing veteran outside linebacker Markus Golden to clean up the play for the sack.
If you remember, Parham was the guard that Heyward absolutely dominated start to finish in Week 16 last season on Christmas Eve. Sunday night it was Benton’s turn. The apprentice is learning from the master, so it seems.
Against the Raiders, Benton graded out at an 81.1 overall from Pro Football Focus and generated two pressures, a quarterback hit and a sack in just 21 reps, 16 of which were pass-rush reps.
He was pretty stout against the run, too, holding up well against double teams in the trenches, refusing to be moved off the spot.
Though the Steelers seem to be easing him into the lineup and letting him settle into his rotational role, Benton is getting pretty darn close to forcing their hand. Every time he’s on the field he’s making an impact, picking up the slack with Heyward on IR.
It’s only three games into his career, but it sure looks like the Steelers found another gem on the defensive line without using a premium draft pick. Outside of Cameron Heyward in the first round in 2011, the Steelers have found the likes of Stephon Tuitt, Steve McLendon, Javon Hargrave who were key starters for the Steelers on the defensive line in the last decade, as well as Isaiah Boggs and even LT Walton, who were solid rotational pieces.
I generally try and pump the brakes when it comes to stuff like this because it is just three games and there’s a lot of football left to be played, but it’s hard to deny just how good Benton has looked through his first three games in the NFL.
While the Steelers seem to be trying to bring him along slowly, limiting his snaps — 29 snaps in Week One, 28 snaps in Week Two and just 21 snaps in Week Three — he is forcing their hand, especially defensive line coach Karl Dunbar’s.
Names like Montravius Adams and DeMarvin Leal have played well early in the season, but that shouldn’t keep a guy like Benton from seeing an uptick in snaps. For some reason, Pittsburgh continues to put Isaiahh Loudermilk on the field in run-down situations despite him getting displaced far too often in the run game. It’s time Benton starts to get more work.
He’s handled everything the Steelers have thrown at him, proven he can handle all three downs and really looks like the next powerful force in the trenches on the defensive side of the football coming out of the Big Ten.
Against a decimated offensive line in Houston in Week Four, it’s high time the Steelers give Benton a larger role. He’s earned it. Now let him go out and take advantage of it on the field.
