Keeanu Benton

Pittsburgh Steelers

Pos IDL

Updated October 9, 2026

Compare Keeanu Benton IDL rankings →

Model Score

78.7 MODEL

2023

73.7

2024

73.9

2025

87.2

2026

78.7

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

STM Take

Tier 4 (#32) rookie to tier 7 (#49) sophomore to tier 1 (#6) breakout in 2025 is a 43-spot one-year jump that puts Benton in the top-10 interior defender conversation. The Wisconsin Big Ten nose tackle pedigree plus the Steelers' position-specific coaching alongside Cam Heyward appears to be the catalyst. The 2026 question is whether Benton earns his first Pro Bowl plus holds tier 1 or whether the 2025 finish was a one-year context spike.

Benton came out of Wisconsin as the Pittsburgh Steelers' 2nd-round pick (49th overall) in 2023 after starting 32 games for the Badgers at nose tackle. The Steelers installed him in the interior rotation as a rookie behind Cam Heyward. His STTM career runs tier 4 (#32) rookie, tier 7 (#49) sophomore, and tier 1 (#6) breakout in 2025.

Strengths

Tier 1 (#6) breakout in year three for a 49th overall pick puts him meaningfully above his draft-slot expectation at the position.
Wisconsin Big Ten nose tackle pedigree plus the Cam Heyward-opposite developmental context creates the structural environment that captures Day 2 IDL ceiling.

Concerns

Single tier 1 finish without prior top-30 STTM history raises the question of whether the 2025 breakout is structural.
Pittsburgh's broader defensive identity around Cam Heyward's late-career chapter plus the T.J. Watt priority creates the question of whether Benton's snap share holds.

What to watch: Whether Benton earns his first Pro Bowl in 2026 plus holds tier 2 or better, the threshold for confirming the 2025 breakout was structural rather than situational.