Through the first couple weeks of the season, things looked really rough for Keeanu Benton. After being drafted in the second round in 2023, the Steelers really need him to prove he is worth the high price they paid for him. It’s safe to say that looked unlikely for the first two games of the season.
Yet he’s now starting to turn a corner. Benton made some nice plays in Week 3 against New England and rode that momentum to a breakout performance against the Minnesota Vikings. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin thinks his biggest improvement came in his ability to finish plays.
“He’s been really active, but he hasn’t finished,” Austin said Wednesday via Steelers.com. “And I think this week he finished, and it really showed. Like, he was impactful because he finished those plays. So that was the challenge.”
After having just one sack in each of his first two NFL seasons, Benton exceeded that total against Minnesota. He had one of the best games of his young career, finishing with 1.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits and a tackle for a loss. He was part of a defensive front that became something of an avalanche against a Vikings offensive line that just couldn’t protect its quarterback.
Arguably the biggest difference for Keeanu Benton has been an improvement in his technique. Through the first two weeks he was getting pushed around, but he made some big improvement against both New England and Minnesota. He’s holding his ground against the run, and in his sack shown above, he executes a great rip move to force his way around the center’s left shoulder.
Now, Austin just wants to see such plays more consistently from Benton.
“I actually challenged him to stack those games,” Austin said. “‘Cause you do have the talent to do it. And if he can stack games like that, along with the way the rest of the d-line’s playing, and the front seven, man that’s gonna be good for us.”
Pittsburgh certainly has the talent on the edge. Alex Highsmith is injured, but he, T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig are quite a talented trio. If Benton and Cam Heyward can continue to shine on the inside, the Steelers’ front seven gets even scarier. We saw the full extent of that last Sunday.
There’s still a long way to go for Keeanu Benton to prove himself as a former second-round pick. But Sunday looked like a massive step forward for him. If he can build on that, as Austin hopes, it’s going to be a huge lift for the Steelers’ defense.
