One reason the Pittsburgh Steelers have been able to be successful this season is due to the play of their rookie class. While names like Broderick Jones and Joey Porter Jr. get a bunch of the spotlight for very valid reasons, DL Keeanu Benton has been a consistent presence since the beginning of the season.
Benton was supposed to get eased into playing time this year, playing mostly as a nose tackle, but injures to DT Cameron Heyward and NT Montravius Adams led to Benton seeing more time on the defensive line than anticipated, and that is paying off. Benton has played 45 percent of the defensive snaps this season already, much more than what was expected to this point going into the season.
Today on the The Mike Tomlin Show, which is streamed on the Steelers YouTube page, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin spoke on how Benton has benefitted from that unexpected playing time and how his arrow is pointing up.
“He is a guy that’s benefited from reps and exposure,” said Tomlin. “Cam [Heyward] missed a significant amount of time and it forced him to grow up quickly. And then even when Cam came back, Mon [Montravius] Adams has missed some time. And so, he’s gotten a lot of exposure; that exposure has been good exposure for him and for us. We like the trajectory of his play, he’s getting better each and ever every week and, it’s needed.”
Benton has been learning and improving throughout his rookie season and it can be seen in his play. On the season so far, Benton has a PFF grade of 72.6 and has been improving in areas as the season had progressed. Particularly in the last two weeks, Benton has put up two strong performances. Against the Cleveland Browns, Benton did a good job keeping the Browns run game in check and recorded four total tackles, while last week against the Cincinnati Bengals he recorded two. PFF graded him at 74,8 against the Browns and 69.3 against the Bengals.
It’s still early in Benton’s career, but as Tomlin said, the trajectory he is on is good. For a second round pick who after the draft was said to be used mostly as a nose tackle this year with limited playing time, Benton is already making a mark. While he is no Heyward yet, he is on a path to possibly be a very good player for the Steelers for a long time.
