Player: CB Beanie Bishop Jr.
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Rookie CB Beanie Bishop Jr. stepped up big on Sunday, picking off Aaron Rodgers twice against the New York Jets. The starting slot defender all season, Bishop had several rough outings. Rounding into the bye week, however, his arrow is trending upward, and at a critical time.
If Beanie Bishop Jr. wants to keep his starting job, then he is starting to make the necessary plays. The Steelers largely started him by default because they lacked other legitimate options. But they only have one more game to play before they regain Cameron Sutton from suspension.
Entering Sunday’s game, I think most assumed that Sutton supplanting Bishop would be a formality. Sutton is an eighth-year veteran who has had considerable success in the Steelers’ system. He understands the slot role, and the slot role in this defense, very well.
But Beanie Bishop is trying to keep his name in the mix, and picking off Aaron Rodgers twice is a good way to go about doing that. Not only did he record two picks, he also made six tackles, including one for loss.
All in all, he played his best game and is coming off the heels of another good performance. Bishop had his worst game of the season just before that, however, and defenses have focused on him all year. Not only because he is an undrafted rookie but because, well, he is short.
And to be fair, his second interception could have easily been a big completion over his head. But Jets WR Garrett Wilson failed to secure the ball, and Bishop picked it off on the ricochet. Bishop is only going to be able to play as tall as he is, but other short cornerbacks make it work. It’s impossible to completely mitigate that factor, but you can make most plays.
That is the key for Bishop moving forward, which is doing the routine plays routinely, as Mike Tomlin says. Inconsistency is what bogs down most young players. And the ones who never get over it don’t become old players—they become former players. Bishop will still be on the roster on the other side of the bye. But how much will he play after Sutton returns?
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
