At 6-4, 309 pounds, Keeanu Benton isn’t your average nose tackle. The Pittsburgh Steelers have trended smaller and smaller at that position since Casey Hampton left town with guys like Javon Hargrave and Benton holding down the middle of the defensive line. The latter’s recent struggles have caused many to wonder if he’s being miscast as a nose tackle in Pittsburgh.
Benton was asked that question in a roundabout way after practice on Friday and dismissed the idea that he’s playing out of position.
“I feel like I am where I’m supposed to be,” Benton said via the Steelers website. “Wherever God put me and wherever I can get a helmet at is where I’m supposed to be.”
It was DL coach Karl Dunbar who immediately vouched for Benton as the starting nose tackle after the team drafted 336-pound rookie Yahya Black. They seemed unwilling to consider the conventional logic that Black’s size would serve them well in the middle of the defense, though they appear to be softening that stance a bit.
Benton has been one of the biggest issues with the Steelers’ defensive front. He hasn’t been productive, and he’s been easy for opposing offenses to move off the line of scrimmage in the run game. If the middle of the defensive line is collapsing backwards, that creates a big issue for linebackers and safeties to stick to their assignments.
The next question to Benton was asking if he feels more comfortable when they place him outside shade of the center rather than square up at 0-tech.
“For sure. I feel like when you’re a shade, you got one gap, getting up field. When you’re in a zero, you’re kind of trying to read that guy and get front-side and mirror him almost. But playing a tilt, you just getting off that rock,” he said.
Benton admits that he is less comfortable playing a traditional two-gap NT role than the alternative. To be fair, most linemen prefer a one-gap responsibility. They have a lot less to worry about that way and have a wider array of moves available to them.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin openly questioned if it’s worth having a traditional nose tackle in today’s NFL, so it shouldn’t surprise anybody that their only listed nose tackle is more of a penetrating defensive tackle than anything else.
They may be forced to reconsider their stance if teams continue to run all over them to the tune of 299 yards in the first two weeks. Whether they want to make the change or not, they have a 336-pound player available to them. If nothing else, he can eat space and keep linebackers clean better than Keeanu Benton at the moment.
