Keeanu Benton contract
Keeanu Benton contract
Will Keeanu Benton live up to his new contract?
The Steelers have signed Keeanu Benton to a four-year, $72 million contract extension. Will he live up to that value? Tying him to the Steelers through the 2030 season, they are assured of having him for his prime years. While $18 million per season is not exactly earth-shattering for an interior defensive lineman these days, it’s still a good chunk of change.
The question is, does that value reflect how the Steelers’ current coaches view Keeanu Benton? At the moment, they are toying with giving Yahya Black a more prominent role. Another complicating factor is Cam Heyward, who seems likely to play at least two more seasons.
With Derrick Harmon also a part of the Steelers’ long-term future, it’s not clear how many snaps Benton will see over the next two seasons. While this year is still a part of his rookie contract, will he play $18 million worth of snaps a year from now?
Obviously, that depends on a lot of things that haven’t happened yet, so we can’t answer that. A lot of people want to rush to assume that Yahya Black is going to be the next great nose tackle and take up a bunch of snaps. But Keeanu Benton is coming off a career year and played a season high in snaps.
On top of that, even if Black eats into Benton’s snaps at nose tackle, Benton will now be seeing playing time elsewhere along the defensive line. In theory, that should balance out his workload. Especially if, consequently, that means Black is playing fewer snaps as a defensive end.
One would think that, especially with Heyward, the Steelers will want to try to rotate as much as possible. Keeping everybody fresh for January and beyond is the goal, one they’ve failed to achieve lately. Every year, they talk about rotating more, but they don’t. And the simple reason is they haven’t had the quality depth that allows them to do so when the critical snaps come upon them.
Having Keeanu Benton long term should contribute to that goal. If you have an A group of nickel linemen of Heyward and Harmon and a B group of Benton and Black, or with Sebastian Joseph-Day mixed in, then you’re in pretty good shape. And, of course, they’re paying Nick Herbig $25 million a year behind T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, so…
The Steelers have a long road ahead of them under Mike McCarthy, along with his cadre of quarterbacks.With seven consecutive postseason losses, and no wins in nearly a decade, they are under fire for their repeated playoff failures. While we have seen many changes, none could dream of topping Mike Tomlin resigning.
We’re already into training camp, with free agency and the draft already reshaping rosters. The Steelers, of course, are used to early offseason mode as a team thatloses by the middle of January all the time. Enjoy the ride, even the turbulence, because it’s the only way we know how to travel anymore.