In his second year, Pittsburgh Steelers NT Keeanu Benton has shown moments of impressive play. Flashes of upside. And what this post is not a critique of the team’s selection or what Benton can be. He has a set of impressive traits. Fluid hips to split gaps, rare to see for a player of his frame. Something I’ve only seen in Pittsburgh from Stephon Tuitt. Benton is a hard worker who plays with effort and real chase to the ball. Overall, his skill set is impressive and I’m happy Pittsburgh made him its second-round pick in 2023.
But I’ve had one recurring critique of his game. His go-to pass-rush move is a filthy one. His club/over is potent and can win knockout style against opposing centers and guards. I can’t stress how stupid good it is. To visualize it, here’s just one example of the move I’m talking about.
The problem is he’s shown that to be his main and really only move. He’s been unable to counter effectively off it with a secondary move when linemen begin to sit and expect his club. And it’s only to his right. That’s where he’s most comfortable using it. It’s not even a two-way move. It’s a move where he clubs with the right hand and swims (or sometimes rips) with his left, making it even easier to zero in on.
That’s where he runs into trouble. Just watching on tape, it felt like linemen were handling him better throughout the game after seeing the club/over early. So I wanted to check our metrics and the tape to quantify the thought. Using our charting but primarily charting it out, going back to re-watch every single one of his pass-rush reps this season, are linemen adjusting well and shutting him down? Is that the reason why he has zero sacks this season and just one in 25 NFL games. It’s not like he’s a poor athlete who can’t get after the quarterback.
To find out, I broke down Benton’s tape by first and second halves. In each, I charted the number of times he used his club/over and if he won the rep. Not if he got pressure or a sack but if he had – dare I invoke Pro Football Focus – “pass-rush win rate.”
Let’s get into the data. Below is a chart of the first/second half splits. You’ll see his total attempts, his wins, and win percentage. Last thing before sharing the chart. His rush opportunities were near-identical, 75 in the first half and 74 in the second half.
Keeanu Benton Club/Over Rush Move Win Rate
| Benton First Half | Benton Second Half | |
|---|---|---|
| Wins | 12 | 3 |
| Losses | 8 | 11 |
| Attempts | 20 | 14 |
| Win % | 60% | 21.4% |
A stark contrast. In the first half, he’s winning 60 percent of the time. In the second half, that number is cut by nearly two-thirds down to 21.4 percent.
It’s worth pointing out some level of subjectivity to this. I included only clear 1v1 reps. There were reps he appeared to win – and lose – where the opposing offensive line was sliding and offering help. It muddied the waters as to whether or not Benton would be able to finish the rep or recover and work through if the move didn’t immediately seem successful. There was also a screen or two mixed in that I didn’t count due to the difficulty of judging the play call and lineman’s set against it.
Still, those were only a handful of reps and the trend line in the truest situations sticks out. His success rate is plummeting later in the game.
That tracks with pressures. Benton has nine QB pressures this season (my initial defensive charting post erroneously listed eight the other day; I’ve corrected that and his snaps-per-pressure rate). Here’s his pressure breakdown by first and second half. These, by the way, are based off all moves. Pressure any way he could get them.
Keeanu Benton’s 2024 Pressures
First Half: 8 (75 pass-rush attempts)
Second Half: 1 (74 pass-rush attempts)
Another huge difference. Nearly all of his pressure has come in the first half with very little in the second half despite his rush attempts being almost identical. To further put that into context, here are his snaps per pressure.
Keeanu Benton Snaps Per Pressure
First Half: 9.4
Second Half: 74
In the first half, his pressure rate is elite. T.J. Watt-like, really. In the second half, it’s in the basement. Every data point shows the same thing. Winning early, fading late. There could be multiple factors at play but the one that sticks out is once a lineman sees that club move once or twice, he adjusts and gets ready for it later on.
Some tape to really hammer home my point. Week 2 against the Denver Broncos. In the first half, you see Benton execute this move flawlessly against the center. He goes back to it against the center in the second half and it fails.
Or here against the Indianapolis Colts, an even better example because he was facing rookie Tanor Bortolini in his first career start (in fairness, both attended Wisconsin are I’m sure practiced against each other albeit not in a little while). Benton wins with it early but the next two times he tries later in the game (the first loss, second clip, actually comes from the first half), he loses.
Another example against Dallas, facing another rookie in Cooper Beebe. Benton whoops him the first half for a pressure/QB hit, his first rush rep of the game, but loses late in the game when he goes back to the well.
And one more in the Steelers’ Week 8 win over the New York Giants. Here, we see it against their right guard. Wins his first attempt at it, loses the rematch.
Benton is a one-trick pony, something Mike Tomlin once teased WR Mike Wallace about. That trick is very good but the NFL is about adjustments. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. That sorta thing. These linemen find out very quickly this is his move and they adjust and counter. It’s why his pass-rush production is falling off throughout the game and one reason why his sack numbers are low (he’s also just had some bad luck with the ball getting out just in the nick of time).
In fairness, this problem isn’t exclusive to Benton. It’s a dilemma for all pass rushers, walking the line between your go-to move versus your secondary one. At what point does it become using it too much and should you just keep trying it until it’s stopped? There’s a healthy debate.
We’ve made a similar critique of EDGE Alex Highsmith, whose wicked-good inside spin lost its luster last season as tackles geared up for it on third/crucial downs. But Highsmith is capable of winning in other ways. Dip and rip. Speed/ghost rush. His power/bull has improved, too. Benton showed a little bit of creativity this summer in camp and preseason, working on a spin move, but it hasn’t carried over consistently into the regular season.
If Benton can add a secondary move, one that doesn’t have to win as cleanly as his club/over, it’ll make it so much more effective. Linemen will know they can’t sit on it. Even if you’re a pitcher who throws absolute gas, 100-plus, if that’s your only pitch, batters will sit and adjust and put it in the third row. This is the professional level. These guys are just too good. That’s what Benton has gotta do. If he does, he’ll be a stud. If he doesn’t, he’ll still be a good player, a good pick, but he won’t reach his ceiling.
