In general manager Omar Khan’s first offseason in charge, the Pittsburgh Steelers added several meaningful pieces to their team. He signed a stopgap in the secondary in veteran CB Patrick Peterson, an impact player along the offensive line in OG Isaac Seumalo and completely overhauled the inside linebacker group with Cole Holcomb, Kwon Alexander, and Elandon Roberts. Perhaps more impressive was the number of impact players he found in his first draft in charge of making the selections. The Steelers’ rookies performed well.
CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso ventured to rank every team’s 2023 draft class following their rookie season and placed the Steelers at No. 5 on the list. He listed the “Year 1 hits” as CB Joey Porter Jr., DT Keeanu Benton, OT Broderick Jones, and EDGE Nick Herbig.
“No one was downright sensational from the Steelers’ 2023 rookie group,” Trapasso wrote. “Porter Jr. settled into somewhat of a lockdown role as he was provided a full-time role on the boundary.”
I don’t know what the bar for “downright sensational” is as a rookie, but Porter comes pretty darn close in my book. He only began starting in Week Eight after serving in a rotational role to start the season but pretty quickly established himself as the team’s top corner. That in itself isn’t overly impressive due to the state of the Steelers’ cornerback room right now, but Porter routinely shadowed opposing teams’ top receivers and locked down almost all of them. At least one Defensive Rookie of the Year voter found his play exceptional as he received a first-place vote.
“Jones was up and down but flashed as a run blocker,” Trapasso wrote.
Jones also didn’t take over as the full-time starter until later in the season with only his second start coming against the Tennessee Titans in Week Nine when he took over for Chukwuma Okorafor at right tackle. He did struggle in pass protection down the stretch of the season, but he was playing on the right side, which is out of his natural left tackle position where he played in college and made his first NFL start. Prior to him becoming a full-time starter, the Steelers were averaging 79.7 rushing yards per game, and that number jumped to 145.2 in the final 10 weeks with Jones starting.
“Actually, there’s a case to be made that Benton, the [second]-round pick from Wisconsin, was the most consistent contributor from start to finish,” Trapasso wrote.
Benton certainly impressed as a rookie and was leaned on perhaps more than was planned early in the season with Cameron Heyward’s injury. He only finished with one sack but was credited with nine total pressures and eight quarterback hits. He showed a lot of pass-rushing juice from the interior defensive line position he mostly played and forced two fumbles on the season.
“Herbig flashed around the corner in a limited role,” Trapasso wrote.
Herbig was given very limited opportunities with the highest-paid edge rushing tandem in the league in front of him. Veteran OLB Markus Golden also ate into some of those rotational snaps as well. He made one of the plays of the year for the Steelers with a strip-sack that he recovered himself against the Seattle Seahawks. He was thought to be a tad undersized to be an edge rusher, but he proved he has what it takes to make a career for himself at the position.
Listed ahead of the Steelers to round out the top five are the Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, and Houston Texans, all of which were playoff teams in the 2023 season.
