This comparison makes Steelers Keeanu Benton a nightmare for offenses

I recently took on the task of providing a legendary comparison for each of the Steelers seven 2023 draft picks, and with both Broderick Jones and Joey Porter Jr. out of the way, the next man up is Keeanu Benton.

Benton, a defensive tackle out of Wisconsin, was taken by the Steelers with the 49th overall pick. In his four seasons as a Badger, he amassed 80 total tackles, nine sacks, and a forced fumble. Almost half of both his tackles and sacks came in 2022, a year that saw him hit season highs in several statistical categories and subsequently left him worthy of repping the black and yellow.

Being drafted that early by a historically-elite franchise sets a relatively high standard for Benton to meet, but it also made finding a comparable icon for him all the easier. While there are multiple DTs that Benton resembles, to at least some degree, one managed to stand out above all the others with ease: Ndamukong Suh.

Suh is, without a doubt, the most controversial character that I have referenced in any of my Steelers comparisons so far. Having tied his name to controversies that range from cheap contact to full-on stomping, Suh is considered by many to be one of his generation’s dirtiest players.

With that said, I am elated to announce that Benton is not being compared to him in that regard. Rather, he is in just about every other; the first of which can be lumped together under a single word, one that describes a category we’ve tackled in all other comparisons leading up to this point—dimensions.

Coming out of Nebraska standing at just under 6’4” and 307 lbs., Suh established an unsettling image on build alone. However, to go with such a frightening height/weight combo, he also had an arm length of 33½”, a hand size of 10¼”, and a 40-yard dash time of 5.03 seconds. Each of these numbers are incredibly close to those of Benton, who is 6’4”, 309 lbs., accompanied by arms coming in at 33⅞” and hands at 9¾”, finished off with a 40 time of 5.08 seconds.

All of that makes the two defensive forces look identical on paper (which is half the job when comparing players in the first place), but Suh went the extra mile with just how overpowering he was in action. That is what brings us to our second category—visual impact. For this comparison to truly work, Benton would need to have matched Suh’s potential in his own on-field performances. With that in mind, we are left with one question: Has he?

Has Benton been able to embody Suh's selling points on the gridiron?

The answer for what sounds like the introduction to a rather loaded subject is actually quite easy to sniff out, as all we have to do is look at the analyses that surround both talents. Just like we did when covering their sizes, we'll dig into Suh’s first.

Anyone who is remotely familiar with the career that Ndamukong Suh has led knows that he wasted no time to start cooking in the NFL. In fact, the following is just some of what Bleacher Report’s Ben Lorimer had to say about him after his impressive rookie campaign:

“After a distinguished college career at Nebraska and a strong showing at the scouting combine, Suh was taken second overall in the 2010 NFL Draft. His use of leverage, strength, lateral agility and burst made him the best defensive tackle prospect in living memory. In his first year as a pro, Suh consistently showed a knack for getting to the quarterback and making plays. He played most of the season in the offensive backfield, and rarely missed tackles or sacks.”

The main things I want everyone to take away from that excerpt are the references to Suh’s strength and speed/lateral agility. Upon doing so, I would like for you all to take in these observations made about Keeanu Benton by Pro Football Network’s Ian Cummings:

“He has some alignment versatility on the interior, playing between true nose and 3-tech, and it stems from his mix of athleticism, strength, and power. For his size, Benton has enough first-step quickness to shoot into gaps off the snap and generate displacement against blockers, and he flashes great long-track explosiveness and closing speed through rushing lanes. When he has a clear path to quicken his strides, Benton can gain ground quickly on opponents in the backfield. Additionally, he has the requisite lateral agility to offset blockers and work across quickly as a pass rusher.”

As we can see, all of the terms that I said we should remember from Lorimer’s breakdown of Suh—“strength,” “speed” and “lateral agility”—were used in Cummings’ breakdown of Benton. They both get heaping amounts of credit for their ability to use dynamic strength and quickness to storm the backfield on a consistent basis, and they do it in so similar of fashions that the descriptions of such behavior could be applied to the opposite player and remain just as accurate—gnarly.

In short, Keeanu Benton has already met the standards of build, speed, and visual appeal that a young Ndamukong Suh had. All that matters now is if he can capture the same magic in the NFL that Suh did, and in just as little time. It may sound like a tall order, but after today, it’s been made evident that he has just as good of odds to do so as anyone else.