When Cameron Sutton signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers during the spring practice portion of the offseason, the hope was that he would alleviate the large question the team had at slot corner, but it was back to the drawing board when Sutton was handed an eight-game suspension by the NFL for violating the personal conduct policy. Through four training camp practices, however, it looks like the Steelers may have found something with undrafted rookie CB Beanie Bishop Jr.
“He doesn’t look out of place,” Fittipaldo said via the North Shore Drive podcast on Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s YouTube channel. “I think sometimes when you have an undrafted free agent, a guy who was overlooked in the draft process, you think there are low expectations, right? But I think Beanie Bishop, a six-year college guy…he can run with these guys.
“He’s a smaller corner, but he’s shown an ability to stick by guys like Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson.”
S DeShon Elliott has been playing in the slot in certain packages with Damontae Kazee filling in at safety when he does so, but of the true slot corners, Bishop has been getting the first chance.
This is somewhat counter to what the Steelers are doing at virtually every other position. They tend to defer to the veteran players at first like with Dan Moore Jr. still holding down his tackle job or Nate Herbig remaining at center for now. But Bishop has gotten the first chance over veterans like Grayland Arnold and Josiah Scott.
Tomlin cautioned the media to not read too much into the division of labor, but it’s hard not to when Bishop has been getting so many first-team opportunities and performing well in a small sample size. The pads haven’t come on yet, so it is too early to make any kind of sweeping declarations, but he has done enough to continue getting first-team opportunities when the pads come on this week. How he holds up against the run will be a large determining factor in how much first-team work he continues to get.
Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson are unproven receivers at this point, but it’s still impressive to be able to run with them well. Austin ran a 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the combine before he was drafted and Wilson ran a 4.39. That is a lot of speed for Bishop to deal with, but he has been up to the challenge.
This shouldn’t be overly surprising for those that dove into his college tape. As a six-year college player, he has plenty of experience and is older than your average rookie. He is 24 years old and will turn 25 by the end of his rookie season. He also had a whopping 20 pass breakups and 4 interceptions in 2023 for West Virginia. That is a lot of ball production, which serves as proof that he can run with and mirror receivers to be in position to make plays.
It is just the first step, but it was a step in the right direction for Bishop’s chances of making the 53-man roster, and the Steelers’ chances of finding an interim slot corner while Sutton serves his suspension.
