Dulac Fuels Talk Of Yahya Black Taking Over Nose Tackle Role From Keeanu Benton

Ever since Steelers DL coach Domata Peko said Yahya Black could be one of the best nose tackles, it’s fueled speculation among reporters. Despite reports that Keeanu Benton continued to run first-team nose tackle, what might the future hold? What do they know, even if it’s not what they’ve seen, but rather perhaps heard instead?

Fueling further speculation, Gerry Dulac recently weighed in on that subject. Fielding a question about Benton and his contract, and whether his contract would make more sense playing end than tackle, the veteran reporter replied, “He is one of the players they wanted to extend before the season — and they still might. But he is not their NT. Yahya Black is”.

Unfortunately, Dulac didn’t elaborate at all in that answer nor in any other during the chat session. He merely said that Yahya Black is the nose tackle, but did not provide context or substantiation. According to Mike DeFabo, Keeanu Benton still played nose tackle with the first-team defense, so I don’t think it’s something that they saw on the field.

It does lead me to question how much all of this talk is based merely on what Domata Peko said, and whether that’s being blown extensively out of proportion. It’s not abnormal for a new coach to talk up incumbent players, perhaps especially young, ascending players. But if this is all based on him saying he could be one of the best nose tackles in the league, I’m not sure that holds much value.

Dulac’s colleague, Ray Fittipaldo, also appears to be firmly entrenched in the Yahya-Black-is-the-nose-tackle camp. To the point, in fact, that he sees Keeanu Benton, in a contract year, no longer starting. Rather, he believes Benton will function as some sort of super-sub, since they already have Cam Heyward and Derrick Harmon.

At this point, I’m left with no choice but to wait and see what actually happens. I’m sure the Steelers have every intention to play Yahya Black at nose tackle this year. I’m also sure they intend to play Keeanu Benton a lot, including at nose tackle, but with more versatility. I can’t imagine a scenario in which Benton plays fewer snaps than Black.

Of course, nose tackles only spend so many snaps on the field these days. It could be anywhere from about 20 to 33 percent of the snaps, give or take. Today’s NFL is what we used to call “sub-package” football. But given that the nickel defense is now basically everybody’s primary package, I don’t know that it makes much sense to call it that anymore. The nose tackle is now the sub-package position, not the nickel cornerback. As far as Black does, we’ll see how seriously Peko made that remark. He hasn’t even seen him with pads on yet.