Tim Benz: Steelers' draft class should prove versatile
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If there is one trend to notice about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ draft class, it’s versatility. Multiple guys who can do multiple things.
The top two picks are pretty clear-cut. Broderick Jones is going to play tackle. Which side? That’s to be seen. He could play either side. But the easiest and best thing is probably to just keep Chuks Okorafor at right tackle and put Jones on the left side so he can prove he was worthy of being a first-round pick that the team traded up to get. And Joey Porter Jr. is going to play an outside cornerback position, although I’m sure he could play inside if needed.
But the other players the Steelers drafted appear to have multiple talents that they can bring to the table.
The team’s other second-round selection, Wisconsin defensive lineman Keeanu Benton, was a good run-stuffer in college. He had 36 tackles and 10 tackles for loss during his final season with the Badgers. He also added 4.5 sacks. And the team seems to think Benton could play either nose tackle or the Cam Heyward-Larry Ogunjobi spots on the end, which would also call on him to get pass rush pressure up the middle.
“He’s a big body, but he’s not a two-down guy,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Friday. “So, he’ll have some chance to be a guy that can play on third down and do some things in terms of penetrating and rushing and all those things. We’ll probably start him inside as a nose and let him grow into it and see what he does. But he’s not strictly that.”
Benton sounds satisfied to bounce up and down the line.
“I think I’ll fit in best between the 0 and the 3,” Benton said. “I think that they have a kind of similar set to us at Wisconsin.”
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Third-round tight end Darnell Washington (Georgia) profiles as an excellent blocker who can also catch. At 6-foot-7 and 265 pounds, he can practically serve as an extra lineman when the Steelers need to load up in a jumbo package.
The fourth-round choice, Nick Herbig, also played on Wisconsin’s defense. As a pass rusher, he had 11 sacks last year — one of only six players in college football to reach that number. He’s only 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, though. That is smaller than the usual outside linebacker in the Steelers 3-4. Last year, when T.J. Watt went down with a torn pectoral muscle, they tried to get by with Malik Reed on the left side. He was ineffective at 6-foot-2, 235 pounds.
There has been a presumption by some in the Steelers media that, eventually, Herbig will be moved inside. Maybe he will. Maybe he can contribute in both spots and use his pass-rushing skills up the middle.
But that’s not his immediate future.
“Right now, he’s going to start at outside linebacker,” outside linebacker coach Denzel Martin said Saturday. “We’ll have to get with Gie (strength coach Garrett Giemont) … Obviously, (he) could gain some weight, but we’ll get with Gie on that. That’s a little above me, but I like him right now at his 240 weight, to be honest with you.”
Even the seventh-rounders have the potential to move around. At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, Purdue’s Corey Trice is being billed as a pure cornerback, just like Porter Jr. But at that size and with his tackling ability, if needed, he should be able to log some snaps at safety.
Cory Trice finished the year as PFF’s 8th-highest-graded tackling cornerback among his draft class. Trice also allowed the 11th-lowest passer rating when targeted (51.3). #Steelers — Matt Williamson (@WilliamsonNFL) April 30, 2023
“Honestly, I think I’m a corner. Obviously, that’s what I’ve been playing my whole career for the most part, but anything I can do to help the team win, I’m definitely willing to do that,” Trice said.
Steelers secondary coach Grady Brown is leaning in that direction as well, yet he is not ruling out the prospect of a look or two at safety.
“He has some toughness. He started his career off as a safety,” Brown said after Trice’s selection. “I think a lot of those answers will be found out when he gets in here and we start moving him around. You look at a person’s ability to learn different positions and everything like that, but one thing he’s shown is that he can be a corner in this league.”
Meanwhile, seventh-round guard Spencer Anderson doesn’t have to worry about learning how to play multiple positions at the NFL level. He’s already done it in college. While primarily a right guard during his four years at Maryland, Warren also played center and tackle at times.
“I feel like it helps a lot,” Anderson said of his versatility. “In the NFL, snaps are limited, and seasons are limited when you’re stuck at one position. So I feel like me adding versatility to the team is definitely a bonus when teams usually travel with seven to eight linemen, if that. It’s always a good help when you can help at all five spots on the offensive line.”
Before the draft, coach Mike Tomlin was asked about the concept of positionless football. In other words, the notion of simply drafting a bunch of good athletes and leaving their roles undefined.
“I go the other way,” Tomlin retorted. “As opposed to calling it positionless, I think there’s more specialization. Positions that we didn’t necessarily identify as positions years ago have very specific roles. I think the nickel, the interior corner is a position in today’s game. The dime linebacker or the passing-situations linebacker, for example, is a really specific position in today’s game. There are interior rushers. Those guys oftentimes play on the edge on run downs. It’s a highly specialized game today. In one vein, I think you can call it positionless. I think you can go the other direction and say it’s very specialized.”
However Tomlin wants to define such players, he seems to have gotten quite a few in the back half of this year’s draft.
Source: TribLIVE
