One of the biggest questions remaining on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster is at slot corner. The increase of sub-package football and nickel personnel on defenses across the NFL has made it a starting position within the defense. They signed CB Cam Sutton during spring practices, but he was subsequently suspended by the NFL for the first eight games of the season.
That brings them right back to square one when it comes to figuring out their slot corner for the first half of the year. The main two competitors in that competition appear to be undrafted rookie CB Beanie Bishop Jr. and veteran CB Josiah Scott. From the sounds of it, Bishop has been playing a majority of the reps with the first-team defense so far. They have also been using S DeShon Elliott as a slot corner as they try to figure out their plan for the position.
Tomlin was asked about Bishop’s significant role so far, and he pumped the brakes on the expectations that have already started to build for the undrafted rookie.
“I wouldn’t overanalyze that, guys,” Tomlin said in a video posted by Steelers Live on X. “Be careful there.”
At the end of the day, these first few practices in the ramp-up portion of training camp are more akin to spring practices and football in shorts than they are real football. The pads aren’t on until Tuesday, and the amount of contact players can make is limited until then.
Tomlin elaborated on how he matches players up against each other.
“It’s just the nature of the matchup,” Tomlin said of Bishop and Calvin Austin III getting a handful of reps against each other. “Both guys are guys that play in the slot in situational ball. Just like you’ll see a lot of Elliott versus [Pat] Freiermuth. I think that’s what’s interesting about this environment. You work ones on ones, twos on twos, and you see consistency in terms of matchups. And so guys get challenged. They have to win their matchup. If they win their matchup enough, they get elevated into the next group and get a new challenge.”
It is unclear exactly how to decipher what he is saying. According to Alex Kozora’s Day 1 training camp diary, Bishop and Elliott received most of the slot snaps, including some first-team work for Bishop with Minkah Fitzpatrick and Elliott back at safety.
That seems to have carried over into today, per Chris Adamski of TribLive on X.
What it would appear Tomlin is saying, is that they are still trying to figure out the slot responsibilities on defense. While Bishop may be getting the first crack at it, camp has barely begun, and things could change from day to day.
Still, Bishop was one of the most exciting UDFAs this year. It is a positive sign that he has received some of the first looks over a veteran like Scott.
