In an effort to address their defensive line, the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Keeanu Benton out of Wisconsin in 2023. He logged a lot of snaps as a rookie, but one area that was lacking was ‘splash plays.’ He only had one sack and one tackle for a loss. He knows that the coaching staff is expecting more out of him in 2024, and he expects the same.
The question then becomes, what does Benton need to do to improve and meet (or exceed) those expectations?
“Finishing my plays,” Benton said after Tuesday’s OTAs, per a video from Christopher Carter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Feel like I missed a couple sacks last year, and I only ended up with one. So just finishing those pass-rush plays and making those pressures and stuff sacks.”
Benton showed flashes of pass-rush ability in Wisconsin, finishing his four-year career with nine sacks. He also proved he could make plays in the backfield with 19 tackles for a loss. However, it was at the Senior Bowl where he impressed Steelers scout and former DB Ike Taylor with his combination of size and agility.
However, Benton didn’t turn that into results a lot in his rookie season. He did have 22 total pressures per Pro Football Focus, but he only had the one sack. He did generate seven more quarterback hits, but he wants to turn those hurries and hits into actual sacks.
If Benton is able to generate more pressure on the quarterback and convert more of those pressures into sacks, that’s going to be good for the Steelers. Obviously, the defense has great edge rushers in T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. Even Benton’s fellow rookie, Nick Herbig, showed flashes in preseason and limited playing time.
But more pressure right in the middle of the offense is always a good thing. It prevents quarterbacks from stepping up and finding throwing lanes. Even great quarterbacks get rattled by pressure in their faces. So Keeanu Benton becoming a disruptive force means more sacks for him and more sacks and potentially turnovers for the rest of the defense.
You can watch the rest of Keeanu Benton’s thoughts below:
