The Pittsburgh Steelers pounced on West Virginia CB Beanie Bishop Jr. when he fell out of the 2024 NFL Draft. Every single team in the league passed on him numerous times, a fact he doesn’t forget. Would the Steelers have drafted him if they had a selection to make in the seventh round? Perhaps, but it doesn’t matter now.
That is how Beanie Bishop feels about it, though he still thinks about going undrafted. Coming off a breakout primetime game in which he picked off Aaron Rodgers twice, he did the media circuit. Over the weekend, he spoke to Ian Rapoport, who asked him how he wound up signing as a college free agent instead of hearing his name on draft weekend.
“I wish I had the answer for you”, Bishop told Eisen. “I don’t know if it was the amount of time or whatever that I spent in college, but I’m quite sure a lot of teams look back on it and think, ‘Maybe we should’ve [taken] a chance on him’. But I’m grateful for my opportunity with the Steelers and I’m making the most of it”.
Beanie Bishop did have several strikes against him going into the draft. At 5-9, few teams would trust him to play outside, limiting his role to the slot. He spent most of his college career at smaller schools, transferring to West Virginia last year. And being a 24-year-old rookie on top of everything else didn’t help.
But that is why he was selective about his options after the draft, seeing the Steelers as a fit. They gave Bishop a $25,000 signing bonus, considerable for them for a rookie free agent. But while the money helped, he knew he had a fit in Pittsburgh.
“That was part of the decision-making process, of me coming to the Steelers. Just because of the void at the nickel position and knowing that I would have an opportunity at least to try at the nickel spot and being able to make plays on special teams”, Bishop explained to Rapoport. “And in rookie minicamp and OTAs, I felt that I made kind of a big stamp on my play and a good impression on the coaches”.
The Steelers turned over their cornerback room outside of Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr. from last season. While they acquired Donte Jackson via trade, they had no viable slot options. Then they failed to draft one, homing in on Beanie Bishop Jr. after the draft.
He spent most of the offseason only lightly contested for the starting slot defender role, though that will change soon. The Steelers will get Cameron Sutton back from suspension after their next game. While Bishop credits Sutton for coaching him up, he is now direct competition for playing time.
