PITTSBURGH — Rookie defensive lineman Keeanu Benton earned the first start of his career for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their 17-10 win Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, and played a career high in snaps in the game, but still has a long way to go to match the top players on the team as his position.
Benton played 33 snaps against the Ravens after playing a then-career high of 29 snaps against the Houston Texans in Week 4. The rookie has progressively gotten more and more playing time on the defensive line that has seen both Cam Heyward and DeMarvin Leal miss time with injury.
Starting the season by just playing nose tackle, Benton has showed increased versatility, as well. Pro Football Focus charted Benton as playing 13 snaps as a four-technique or outside against the Ravens after playing just two snaps of defensive end in his previous four games combined.
The Steelers don’t seem afraid of giving Benton a larger and larger role, and Teryl Austin was insistent on Thursday that he could handle a bigger workload.
“He absolutely has the gas tank to do it,’ Austin said.”That was one of the more impressive things watching him on college tape as a 300-plus-pounder where he would play over 80 percent of the snaps, and he played hard and he ran hard the entire time. So, I don’t worry about his conditioning. I think he’s obviously grown as a young player, and he’s gotten more snaps, and he’s gotten better as he’s gotten more snaps. I anticipate his role growing as well.”
So what’s the hold up in getting Benton closer to his defensive line compatriots Larry Ogunjobi (48 snaps vs. Ravens) and Montravius Adams (56 snaps vs. Ravens)?
“I’ve been really transparent about the inclusion of all the rookies,” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “Oftentimes we start with a good foundational plan in terms of how they participate, and we grow from there.”
Benton has been bumped up in playing time. He’s been given more responsibility than just nose tackle. It seems that the plan Tomlin has in place calls for a gradual and incremental approach to more playing time for his young players.
STEELERS OFFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS
| Pos | Player | SF | CLE | LV | HOU | BAL | ||||||||||||
| QB | Kenny Pickett |
63 | 54 | 62 | 49 | 66 | ||||||||||||
| QB | Mitch Trubisky | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| QB | Mason Rudolph | |||||||||||||||||
| RB | Najee Harris |
33 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 37 | ||||||||||||
| RB | Jaylen Warren |
25 | 23 | 28 | 29 | 32 | ||||||||||||
| RB | Anthony McFarland | 5 | IR | IR | IR | IR | ||||||||||||
| RB | Qadree Ollison |
— | 0 | 1 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| RB | Godwin Igwebuike | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| WR | George Pickens |
56 | 46 | 55 | 58 | 58 | ||||||||||||
| WR | Allen Robinson II |
56 | 47 | 50 | 50 | 57 | ||||||||||||
| WR | Calvin Austin III | 35 | 41 | 45 | 53 | 37 | ||||||||||||
| WR | Diontae Johnson | 27 | IR | IR | IR | IR | ||||||||||||
| WR | Miles Boykin |
5 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 12 | ||||||||||||
| WR | Gunner Olszewski | 1 | INJ | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| TE | Pat Freiermuth |
32 | 41 | 49 | 30 | INJ | ||||||||||||
| TE | Darnell Washingon | 24 | 26 | 29 | 25 | 46 | ||||||||||||
| TE | Connor Heyward | 17 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 37 | ||||||||||||
| TE | Rodney Williams II | — | — | — | — | 4 | ||||||||||||
| LT | Dan Moore Jr. |
63 | 54 | 62 | 8 | INJ | ||||||||||||
| RT | Chukwuma Okorafor | 59 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | ||||||||||||
| LG | Issac Seumalo |
63 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | ||||||||||||
| RG | James Daniels |
63 | 54 | 62 | INJ | INJ | ||||||||||||
| C | Mason Cole |
63 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | ||||||||||||
| OT | Broderick Jones |
4 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 66 | ||||||||||||
| OT | Dylan Cook |
0 | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| C/G | Nate Herbig |
0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 66 | ||||||||||||
| OL | Spencer Anderson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| OL | Ryan McCollum | — | — | — | — | 0 |
STEELERS DEFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS
| Pos | Player | SF | CLE | LV | HOU | BAL | ||||||||||||
| DT | Larry Ogunjobi |
43 | 51 | 49 | 46 | 48 | ||||||||||||
| DT | Montravius Adams | 34 | 52 | 47 | 41 | 56 | ||||||||||||
| DE | DeMarvin Leal |
26 | 39 | 33 | 21 | INJ | ||||||||||||
| NT | Keeanu Benton |
29 | 28 | 21 | 29 | 33 | ||||||||||||
| DT | Armon Watts |
22 | 18 | 34 | 18 | |||||||||||||
| DT | Isaiahh Loudermilk | 31 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 13 | ||||||||||||
| DT | Cam Heyward |
14 | IR | IR | IR | IR | ||||||||||||
| NT | Breiden Fehoko |
— | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| OLB | T.J. Watt |
48 | 70 | 59 | 62 | 60 | ||||||||||||
| OLB | Alex Highsmith |
49 | 68 | 52 | 63 | 61 | ||||||||||||
| OLB | Markus Golden |
25 | 19 | 20 | 13 | 14 | ||||||||||||
| OLB | Nick Herbig |
16 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ILB | Cole Holcomb |
53 | 78 | 53 | 63 | 64 | ||||||||||||
| ILB | Kwon Alexander |
47 | 52 | 47 | 27 | 31 | ||||||||||||
| ILB | Elandon Roberts | 29 | 27 | 17 | 42 | 29 | ||||||||||||
| ILB | Mark Robinson |
0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| CB | Patrick Peterson |
67 | 85 | 71 | 71 | 63 | ||||||||||||
| CB | Levi Wallace |
67 | 78 | 67 | 71 | 66 | ||||||||||||
| CB | Joey Porter Jr. |
7 | 14 | 27 | 10 | 28 | ||||||||||||
| CB | James Pierre |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| CB | Chandon Sullivan | 13 | 47 | 18 | 21 | 24 | ||||||||||||
| CB | Desmond King |
0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| FS | Minkah Fitzpatrick | 68 | 46 | 72 | 71 | 70 | ||||||||||||
| S | Damontae Kazee | 49 | 77 | 53 | 34 | 43 | ||||||||||||
| SS | Keanu Neal |
33 | 61 | 41 | 45 | 42 | ||||||||||||
| SS | Miles Killebrew |
0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| DB | Elijah Riley |
0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |