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 DL got his first opportunity to start on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers due to an injury to Montravius Adams. He made the most of it with a season-high eight tackles. Though he didn’t finish the game with a sack, still stuck on one for the season, he generated his share of pressure that influenced the course of plays.
I looked up what a gangbuster was for this one after Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said that rookie DL Keeanu Benton was coming on like one midway through his first season. Get ready for an etymology lesson.
If you assumed that gangbusters involved busting up gangs, then boy were you right on the money. If you’ve ever seen an old-timely film noir or gangster movie, or even a more recent neo-noir crime drama such as Miller’s Crossing, you’ve probably seen a cinematic depiction of gangbusting in action.
Basically, it’s loud, it’s sudden, it’s aggressive, and it’s highly effective. But the phrase “coming on like gangbusters” and its variations actually originate specifically from a radio program that ran from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s called “Gang Busters”, sort of an original true crime podcast. The show’s intro was apparently quite raucous, featuring machine guns and sirens and whistles, so it was quite jarring whenever Gang Busters, you know, came on.
Kind of how Benton is introducing himself to unsuspecting offensive linemen on a weekly basis who have yet to properly make his acquaintance. He may not be getting the sort of national attention of a Jalen Carter or even a Calijah Kancey, but watch his tape. Opposing offensive coordinators are going to have to start paying extra attention to him.
If you subscribe to or otherwise have access to Pro Football Focus grades, I ask you to ignore them—as many of you do—as their grade for Benton against the Green Bay Packers is purely comical. They graded him at just 46.6, particularly knocking his run defense.
Don’t anticipate finding many other analysts who would agree with that. While he was not dominant, is still growing, and lacks consistency, the fact is that he is already forcing teams to account for him, at least by the time they get onto the field, even if they didn’t beforehand. And he’s only going to keep getting better. And stronger.
