At this point, it feels like each and every week Pittsburgh Steelers’ rookie defensive tackle Keeanu Benton is turning heads and drawing a ton of attention due to his performance on the field.
As head coach Mike Tomlin likes to say, Benton is very clearly an arrow-pointing-up guy for the Steelers, taking on a large, more important role weekly in the Steelers’ defense. He’s thriving with the increased role, too.
That continued against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. Benton played 45 snaps against the Packers and turned in a career-high seven tackles and added two pressures in the 23-19 win. He flashed as a pass rusher once again and had some solid reps in run defense. Benton caught the attention of NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger after the win, and then earned praise from Tomlin on Tuesday as a guy who’s “come on like gangbusters.”
He’s been rather impressive weekly. Sunday against the Packers might have been some of his best work.
On the first drive of the game, Benton showed just how good of a day it was going to be for him against a strong Packers interior.
Benton showed good hands here to stack right guard Jon Runyan Jr., stringing the zone run out just enough. As running back AJ Dillon tries to hit the cutback lane, Benton does a fantastic job shedding the block of Runyan and making the tackle for a short gain, earning some love from Cameron Heyward after the play.
A few plays later, Benton flashed his quickness as a pass rusher, hitting his go-to swim move.
Benton has a lot of ground to cover here on the pass rush, slanting to get a rush on Green Bay center Josh Myers. Despite needing to cover a bunch of ground, Benton does a really good job of lulling Myers to sleep just a bit with the slight euro step, opening Myers up for the swim.
Benton hits it quickly and is able to get his hips through, generating pressure on quarterback Jordan Love, and forcing a quick throw for an incompletion. His ability to get upfield on the rush sets up Heyward for the loop, too, which generates pressure in its own right.
Really good rep from the rookie.
Though he doesn’t exactly have any counters he can hit just yet as a pass rusher — it’s important to remember he’s still developing — Benton showed he’s been paying attention and learning from Heyward. In the second quarter, Benton couldn’t create much push as a pass rusher, but he read Love’s eyes in the pocket.
By doing that, Benton was able to get up and bat down a pass. Benton let Love know about it after the play, too.
Really cool to see that type of passion from the young player who is coming into his own.
While Benton flashed consistently as a pass rusher against the Packers, his best rep of the day came against the run.
He pulled out a semi-split to do it, too.
That is just a fantastic play from Benton working across the line of scrimmage. Having the power and flexibility to stop quickly like this, torque his body, and then get in on the tackle, plugging up the hole, is impressive stuff.
You can’t teach that type of ability. That’s just a natural play. Runyan played that rep very well, too. Nothing you can do against a physical freak like Benton though.
After his great rep against the run, Benton turned it on as a pass rusher.
Unsurprisingly, he hit Myers with another swim, and then had the wherewithal to convert speed to power to bowl right through left guard Elgton Jenkins, running the Pro Bowl guard right into Love’s lap on an impressive rep.
That’s a jaw-dropping rep from Benton. You see that type of play from a guy like Heyward occasionally, but you aren’t expecting that just yet from Benton, considering how raw he was as a pass rusher coming out of Wisconsin. He’s developing in a hurry though.
He fits Pittsburgh perfectly along the defensive line with his mentality, too, performing up to standard from a heart and hustle perspective.
For a long time, former Steelers’ defensive line coach John Mitchell preached running to the football. It was a cultural thing in Pittsburgh that has been passed down from Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel to Cameron Heyward.
Heyward has passed it on to Benton.
Great effort here against a screen to running back Aaron Jones. Linebacker Elandon Roberts makes a great play to slip underneath the blocker on the perimeter, making contact with Jones, slowing him down, and turning him back inside. That’s where Benton comes in with great hustle to clean up the play and limit it to a short gain.
Really good stuff from the rookie.
In one of his final reps of the day, Benton closed in style against the run.
Good job of stacking here against Jenkins, eating up space, and remaining right in his gap.
Doing that, Benton is able to keep his eyes in the backfield, find the football, and then is able to get off the block to get in on the tackle against A.J. Dillon.
That’s veteran-level stuff from Benton, who is looking better and better weekly.
While the tape shows that Benton was rather impressive against the Packers, the Pro Football Focus grades don’t come close to matching up. Benton graded out at 46.6 overall from PFF in the 45 snaps, including a 30.6 against the run and a 65.9 rushing the passer. He’s up to 15 pressures on the season and is really becoming a key rotational piece for the Steelers in the trenches.
Heck of a draft pick by the Steelers. He’s looking like a great steal for the Black and Gold.
