Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: DL Keeanu Benton
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The rookie defensive lineman continues to impact the game in ways greater than traditional statistics will tell you. Coming off one of his best games as a pass rusher despite lacking a sack to show for it, Benton has a key opportunity to produce against the Green Bay Packers with starting NT Montravius Adams sidelined.
I’m not sure there are too many players in the league right now who are outplaying their stat line to a greater extent than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Keeanu Benton. The rookie defensive lineman is proving to be a real find and a future foundational piece of their defensive front, particularly critical in the post-Cameron Heyward era that is on the horizon.
Though he has primarily been asked to play defensive tackle, he can also play five-tech, a role I feel is probably inevitable as a future expansion going into his second season. For now, however, he continues to be a force up the middle.
And he will have an even greater opportunity to show it this week since starting NT Montravius Adams will not be playing today against the Green Bay Packers. That means it’s Benton all the way, from start to finish.
Adams was injured early against the Tennessee Titans, and as a result, Benton played a career-high 48 snaps, his first game in his career in which he played at least half of the team’s defensive snaps. In this case, he played 65 percent.
On the whole, the rookie hasn’t experienced too great of a learning curve. No doubt it helped to have played at Wisconsin, a team that runs a more pro-style system. He also has multiple fellow Badger alumni on the roster who were able to help him transition, including fellow defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk.
One needn’t look hard or far to see bright things in Benton’s future. He is not only physically gifted, but he is improving as a technician. He will only be getting better from here on out. One only hopes that the Steelers will be able to afford to keep him by the time he is due for a new contract. We don’t need to lose another Javon Hargrave.
