4 National defensive linemen Chicago Bears must watch at Senior Bowl

Chicago Bears Senior Bowl Scouting: Keeanu Benton – Wisconsin

Another Big Ten player who has shown up at the Senior Bowl is Keeanu Benton. Benton is a little oversized to be a 3-technique and honestly would fit better in an odd-front scheme than the 4-3 that the Chicago Bears run. He stands at 6’4″ and 315 pounds. He has a solid burst off the ball and a deadly swim move that allows him to generate pressure. He too could be an outside-the-box option for Matt Eberflus, but honestly, I don’t see him fitting in here.

Benton is relatively quick, but I think Chicago would be better off looking elsewhere unless they see him as an undersized nose tackle. If they want to put him at the nose next to whoever replaces Justin Jones as the starting 3-technique, I wouldn’t hate it. He is very technically sound.

I had Benton as a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Will a dominant Senior Bowl performance change that though? He is coming off of a 4.5-sack season for Wisconsin but will likely be a hot and cold pass rusher in the NFL. He gets washed up at times by big, strong linemen because he doesn’t keep his pad level low enough. That showed up less at Senior Bowl practice, but let’s see how he does in the game today.