When the Pittsburgh Steelers released their first official depth chart of the 2024 NFL season, two rookies stood at the top of their respective positions. C Zach Frazier was one. The other was CB Beanie Bishop Jr.
That’s a heck of an accomplishment for the undrafted rookie. Bishop made the 53-man roster and sits atop the depth chart at the position. Or is it all that it looks to be? Tomlin spoke about Bishop and how his performance warranted the top spot on the depth chart.
“I don’t know that he’s done it yet,” Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference per video from the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “We have player-elevation opportunities and things of that nature during the course of a work week that determines how we divide the labor up. Beanie’s an exciting young guy. We’ll watch him during the week, along with some others, and we’ll make decisions at the end of the week that’s best suited for winning this game.”
This isn’t the first time Tomlin has pumped the brakes on the Bishop-as-starting-slot train. Just after the second preseason game, Tomlin had similar words about Bishop, saying that he hadn’t proven himself as the starting slot corner. To be fair, Tomlin did praise Bishop as being “an exciting young guy”, so it isn’t like Tomlin views him negatively. Bishop simply has a lot of work to do to prove himself as a starting slot corner in the NFL.
Either way, the Steelers felt good enough about Bishop to keep him on the 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie. Bishop’s main competition at the spot, Thomas Graham Jr., was part of the cuts to get down to 53. The Steelers did sign him to the practice squad, however. Perhaps the Steelers felt they had a better chance of Graham making it through to the practice squad than Bishop.
Regardless, Graham will likely be Bishop’s main competition in practice this week for the starting slot corner spot. And Tomlin will pick whoever he feels gives the Steelers the best shot at winning Sunday in Atlanta. Whether that’s what the depth chart reflects or not.
