Rookie second-round DL Keeanu Benton missed most of last week’s second preseason game for the Pittsburgh Steelers after impressing in his NFL debut a week earlier. He exited that game late with an injury and was unable to get up to speed sufficiently enough for the coaches to feel comfortable putting him on the field outside of special teams.
That is valuable time lost for a player in his position—specifically, a rookie from whom much is expected early. The old adage applies here: the best ability is availability. That’s not to suggest that he has durability concerns, but with such a compressed timeline to prepare for a significant role at the outset of your rookie season, you can’t afford to spend much time watching from the sidelines.