The Pittsburgh Steelers have depth at nearly every position on defense except for cornerback. Joey Porter Jr. and Donte Jackson will start on the outside, but the slot cornerback position is still an unsolved mystery. Beanie Bishop Jr. is the only slot corner on the Steelers’ 53-man roster, and he is listed as the starter in the depth chart released earlier today ahead of Week 1. Despite being listed as the starter, Mike Tomlin has repeatedly emphasized that Bishop hasn’t shown enough to be trusted, leading many to question how the team will approach slot corner this year.
Ray Fittipaldo, a Steelers beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was asked in his weekly chat why the Steelers didn’t sign another cornerback.
“I am a bit surprised, but I think this signals a youth movement,” Fittipaldo wrote. “I asked Teryl Austin a couple weeks ago about the young CBs and how he knows when he can trust them. He basically said they’ll get better as the season goes on. I think they know there will be some mistakes, but they’re willing to live with them because they expect all of these guys to be better in November and December. They easily could have signed Patrick Peterson and used him, but they knew what that looked like last year. Guys like Bishop and Cory Trice [Jr.] and Darius Rush on the outside are faster and have more upside. Yes, they don’t have experience, but I guess there is only one way to get experience — and that’s to play in games.”
The Steelers fielded the oldest defense in the NFL last season. According to a snap-weighted breakdown from Bill Barnwell, they averaged 28.4 years old on defense while their offense was one of the youngest in the league with an average age of 26.2 years old.
The Steelers’ starting defense is still fairly old, particularly at defensive line and linebacker. Cam Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi, and Elandon Roberts are all 30 or older and superstar T.J. Watt turns 30 in October. The starting safeties include a pair of 27-year-olds in Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott, leaving cornerback as far and away the youngest position group. Four of the five rostered cornerbacks are 24 or younger (Donte Jackson is 28).
Suffice to say, there’s not a lot of NFL experience in the Steelers’ cornerback room, and it’s going to come with some growing pains this season. Beanie Bishop Jr. may not have shown enough yet to earn Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin’s trust, but he’s an undrafted rookie who should have plenty of opportunities to improve this season. The Steelers have already demonstrated their faith in the upside of other young corners on their roster, headlined by second-year Joey Porter Jr., who will likely be tasked with guarding opposing WR1s this season.
Patrick Peterson was a popular name as an option at slot corner after Cam Sutton’s eight-game suspension was announced. Peterson started nearly every game for the Steelers in 2023, but the now 34-year-old corner showed plenty of signs of age. The Steelers deployed him all over the field, so he would be familiar enough in the slot, but evidently Teryl Austin doesn’t want to run it back with the veteran.
If Bishop doesn’t pan out, then it will be even more interesting to see where the Steelers turn to fill the void at slot corner. Safeties Damontae Kazee and Jalen Elliott may have to fill in at the position or the team could look to sign an experienced corner after all.
All eyes will be on the slot corner position Week 1 as we see just how many snaps Beanie Bishop Jr. receives, and whom the Steelers turn to if he’s not on the field. Hopefully, Tomlin and Austin’s decision to not add a veteran corner, and to give the young guys opportunities, will prove to be the right choice.
