While there wasn’t a whole lot that went right against the San Francisco 49ers, one of Pittsburgh’s young, developing players stood out in a big way.
That would be rookie DL Keeanu Benton, who was Pittsburgh’s second-rated player on the team, according to Pro Football Focus and the second-ranked rookie overall across Week One in the NFL. Benton displayed a combination of power and fluidity, having the skill set to play the run effectively while generating pressure as a rotational pass rusher.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was asked about Benton and his performance against the 49ers today as well as how versatile he can be now that the Steelers need to make up for the loss of DL Cameron Heyward, who is expected to miss the next two months after undergoing sports hernia surgery.
“He showed that he’s kind of what we thought,” Austin told the media Thursday per an official transcript provided by the team. “He’s really powerful. He moves well. The things that he’s going to be inexperienced on are the blocking schemes coming at him, how those things affect him and how he should play. But I like him. I think he can play multiple positions along the line, but right now we may try to keep him a little bit where he is and let him grow that way.”
This isn’t the first time that Austin has said that they want to bring Benton along slowly. Austin said after Pittsburgh drafted Benton in April that he would be relied upon as a run stuffer to start his NFL career, but that he had the versatility and skill set to move up and down the line of scrimmage as he got more accustomed to the speed of the NFL game. It looks like Austin’s thought process hasn’t changed much over the last several months as he still wants to ease him along despite the injury to Heyward, which delivered a big blow to the defensive front.
Benton made three total tackles and was one of the top interior defensive linemen of the week in pass-rush win rate, according to ESPN. He logged 43% of the defensive snaps in Week One, and that number should figure to grow with time. Austin has a point that Benton may not be as well-versed as some of the other veterans when going against the blocking schemes he will see, especially against a talented Cleveland Browns offensive line. However, Benton proved to be disruptive in the opportunities afforded to him last week. If Cleveland tries to establish its ground game with RB Nick Chubb on Monday night, we should get a healthy dose of Benton as he attempts to continue to gain the coaches’ favor going forward.
