INDIANAPOLIS – The 2025 NFL Draft will feature one of the strongest and deepest defensive line groups of at least the last decade, and the Pittsburgh Steelers have both the need and the intention of taking advantage of that strength. Steelers GM Omar Khan said as much during his media availability at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.
Based on the configuration of their 2024 defensive line and the strong possibility of Larry Ogunjobi being a cap casualty this offseason, it would seem that the Steelers should be looking for a defensive end type that can play all the way from 3-tech to 5-tech alignments. Still, the team views Keeanu Benton as a versatile chess piece for that unit.
“KB [Keeanu Benton] has the flexibility to play anywhere on the defensive line,” Khan told the media.
It was easy to pick out Benton among the 2023 draft class as somebody the Steelers would be interested in. That was because of his frame at 6036, 309 pounds. The height is a little below what they typically look for in a 5-tech-capable player, but his 33 7/8-inch arms more than make up for it with overall length.
That said, his first two seasons were primarily spent on the interior. He logged 1,107 snaps from 0-tech out to 4i alignments, to just 77 as a defensive end.
With base defense being more of a rarity these days than in years past, defensive ends spend a lot of their time further inside in sub packages anyway, but moving outside would still be a relatively new thing for Benton at the NFL level.
The team’s view of Benton as a flexible piece could help inform their draft decisions or even their trade or free-agent additions. A player like Philadelphia Eagles DT Milton Williams could make a little more sense for Pittsburgh if they plan to play Benton on the end more. Milton’s 6030 height and 31 1/2-inch arms are not what the Steelers typically like on the outside, for example.
The draft has defensive linemen of all shapes and sizes. Instead of being pigeonholed into looking for the Steelers’ ideal measurements for a 5-tech DE, the team can take Keeanu Benton’s positional flexibility into account to select the best football players available.
Keep this in mind, as the Steelers likely add at least two impact defensive linemen through both the free agency period and the upcoming draft.
