Steelers to Host Wisconsin DL Keeanu Benton on Pre-Draft Visit
The Steelers will host Wisconsin defensive lineman Keeanu Benton on a pre-drat Top 30 visit, Ryan Roberts of RisenDraft reported on https://twitter.com/RiseNDraft/status/1641841568477741066?s=20″>Friday.
This follows a strong trail of interest for the Steelers and Keeanu Benton up to this point. They met with him multiple times at the Senior Bowl, had a formal meeting at the NFL Combine, and now they will host him for a pre-draft Top 30 visit. As a Wisconsin defensive lineman in Jim Leonhard’s scheme, the scheme is extremely similar to what the Steelers run, so Benton could slide right into the scheme and give Pittsburgh some quality reps in his rookie season.
Over his career in Madison, Benton only registered 9 career sacks. But with a combination of a twitchy first step and powerful hands, Benton turned into a buzzsaw at the National team’s practices at the Senior Bowl. He then parlayed that into a strong combine where he continued his upward momentum throughout the entire process.
This, along with Gervon Dexter, is one of the known Top-3o visits that the Steelers have with defensive linemen. It is not a deep draft at the position for guys that the Steelers would like, so for guys like Benton, this visit means a lot to the Steelers’ interest in them.
Benton’s a nose tackle that did primarily focus on stopping the run, but he terrorized opponents the moment he got to pin his ears back and go after the quarterback. A guy with true nose tackle potential, Benton sports a stout frame that is slightly undersized, but he makes up for it with fantastic length and burst. The cool thing about Benton is that in subpackages, he can easily slide out to 3-technique. Where does that leave him as a player? It leaves him as a player who can play multiple spots when asked.
Read This Next
