After allowing 299 rushing yards in the Wild Card loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers set out to shore up the run defense entering the 2025 season.
The Steelers drafted rookies Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black to help fix the issue. They also signed veteran Daniel Ekuale in free agency. But a key piece in most of their plans was third-year nose tackle Keeanu Benton.
Against the New York Jets, in the first crucial test of the season for the run defense, the Steelers failed. Benton was a big part of that.
He wasn’t alone, but he was a substantive part of the struggles on Sunday. Benton and the Steelers allowed 182 yards on the ground in a 34-32 win. After transforming his body further this offseason to better suit him for the nose tackle position entering Year 3, the first look at him at the position in 2025 was pretty poor.
He was pushed around far too easily, couldn’t anchor against the run from the nose, and was, overall, ineffective. He graded out at just a 48.7 overall from Pro Football Focus, including a 47.8 against the run. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin says it’s reasonable to expect Benton to be better in Week 2. He’d better, because Week 1 was particularly poor.
Let’s take a look.
The first snap from scrimmage seemed to foreshadow how Benton’s bad day would soon unfold.
Right at the snap, Benton is out of position. He’s turned sideways trying to take on blocks, and continues to get run down the line of scrimmage on the zone run before being buried on the play.
He’s put on skates immediately. Benton isn’t exactly the type of defensive lineman that is built to withstand double teams, eat gaps, and free his linebackers. Instead, he’s a one-gaping defensive lineman who is best penetrating, using his athleticism to win.
The Steelers have him out of position at nose tackle, and it showed time and time again on Sunday, much like it did on the first rep.
Here, on a zone run working away from him, Benton has to work hard to not let the tackle reach-block him. He has to work down the line of scrimmage through the guard.
But that doesn’t happen. He’s a tick slow off the ball and can’t work across the guard. That allows the tackle to reach-block him and the guard to seal him off, all while pushing him 5 yards off of the ball.
On Braelon Allen’s rushing touchdown, the Jets bury Benton again, taking out Black in the process.
He’s able to get his eyes in the backfield and is at least square here. Unfortunately, the offensive line moves him off of his spot, as the guard specifically folds him up to give Allen a seam to hit for the score.
It was another example of Benton winding up on the ground far too often Sunday from the nose tackle position.
What was really concerning to see from Benton was the inability to get off of blocks consistently.
Whether it was right guard Joe Tippman or right tackle Armand Membou in the run game, Benton allowed them to get hands inside and then he really struggled to work off of the blocks to put himself in a position to make the play.
In the first clip, the running back beats him for a decent gain on the ground, leaving him flailing. He has to be better with his hands and leverage and keep himself clean. He had good power coming out of college and has flashed it at times as a pro. Unfortunately, he didn’t show it nearly enough Sunday.
Benton exhibited an inability to hold his ground, a serious problem.
Again, it’s not the type of player he is, but the Steelers have cast him in that role. It’s a disservice to Benton and it’s going to lead to further struggles, especially if opponents want to double-team him in the run game and create serious movement.
He needs to shoot gaps and charge into the backfield, not try to two-gap things and hold up against double teams. It doesn’t sound like much will change though, based on Tomlin’s comments Tuesday.
The Steelers will face another tough test from a run game perspective in Week 2 Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
