The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June. Next up is the team’s annual training camp, which gets underway in the latter part of July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of Steelers training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players in total during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.
The next set of three players we will preview ahead of Steelers 2024 training camp are Kalon Barnes, Tyler Beach, and Keeanu Benton.
CB Kalon Barnes: A former seventh round selection of the Carolina Panthers in the 2022 NFL Draft, Barnes was signed by the Steelers to a Reserve/Futures contract in January. He had previously been with the Steelers at the start of the 2023 season as a member of the team’s practice squad.
While Barnes has bounced around to several teams since entering the NFL, to date he’s logged playing time in just two games and a total of nine special teams snaps. Those came in 2022 with the Minnesota Vikings. During his college career at Baylor, Barnes mainly played outside cornerback after switching from wide receiver before the 2018 season. He did run a blazing 4.23-second 40-yard dash at the 2022 NFL Combine.
Outlook: In training camp this year, Barnes will be battling several other cornerbacks on the offseason roster for a backup job. He’ll likely be asked to play outside cornerback on defense as he doesn’t have a lot of slot experience to speak of.
As part of Barnes attempting to secure a spot on the 53-man roster this summer, he’ll need to excel on special teams, which could prove to be a tall task for him based on his football history to date. In reality, Barnes is a longshot to make the Steelers 53-man roster out of training camp. He could, however, have a legitimate shot at hanging around after the preseason ends as a practice squad player if he can stay healthy this summer and make plays during training camp and the practice games.
OL Tyler Beach: The Steelers signed Beach, a Wisconsin product, to a Reserve/Futures contract in January. He originally entered the NFL in 2023 with the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent but failed to stick with them after the preseason ended. Beach also failed to latch onto an NFL practice squad in 2023.
During the 2023 preseason as a member of the Texans, Beach played at both tackle spots in addition to right guard. In college, he mainly logged snaps at both tackle spots but did see some limited playing time at both guard spots as well. In fact, Beach logged nearly 2,000 total offensive snaps at Wisconsin over the course of five seasons.
Outlook: The fact that Beach is seemingly positional flexible will make him an interesting player to track once training camp gets underway. In short, he might just see some practice time at tackle and guard once practices in Latrobe get underway. Even so, Beach is very unlikely to make the Steelers 53-man roster later this summer as the team’s roster is full of quality offensive linemen with three of those players being 2024 draft picks.
At best, Beach would likely need to win a backup tackle spot, which will be a tough chore for him. In reality, Beach will likely be battling for a practice squad spot during training camp and the preseason, assuming he can stay healthy and stick on the offseason roster until the final cuts are made.
DT Keeanu Benton: The Steelers selected Benton in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft and overall, the Wisconsin product did not disappoint throughout his rookie season. In total, Benton registered 41 total tackles in 2023 of which one resulted in lost yardage.
He also recorded one sack, two forced fumbles, two passes defensed and eight quarterback hits in 2023 as part of him logging 516 defensive snaps played, of which most of them obviously came with him lined up between the B-gaps. 18 of Benton’s 2023 tackles qualified as stops and he was credited with 24 total pressures as well.
Outlook: It’s really hard not to be super excited about Benton ahead of the 2024 season getting underway. He got better as his rookie season went on and with that first year now underneath his belt, and a full offseason to prepare like a normal player prepares, it’s not hard to expect him to have a huge jump in 2024. The biggest overall task for Benton in 2024 will be for him to become more consistent with his play. If he does that, the stats and notable plays should increase quite a bit. Benton left quite a few sacks on the field in 2023 and if he doesn’t do that in 2024, he might easily reach seven or more in 2024.
We also are likely to see Benton play more in sub package situations in 2024 and if that happens, he should have even more opportunities to get after opposing quarterbacks, which is exciting to think about. He’s a talented young player.
Previous Posts In This Series:
90 In 30: Steelers 2024 Training Camp Preview Series — Montravius Adams, Kyle Allen, Spencer Anderson
90 In 30: Steelers 2024 Training Camp Preview Series — Grayland Arnold, Calvin Austin III, Anthony Averett
