Pittsburgh Steelers CB Beanie Bishop Jr. may not be the biggest player on the field on game day. But he certainly made everyone stand up and take notice in Week 7. He picked off New York Jets QB Aaron Rodgers twice in that game. He added his third interception against the New York Giants the following week.
And Bishop thinks the Jets game caused other quarterbacks around the league to avoid targeting him.
“When you have those type of games, it’s like you kind of put the league on notice a little bit,” said Bishop on Thursday’s episode of the Christian Kuntz Podcast. “Because being a rookie, quarterbacks are going to keep targeting you, they’re gonna keep throwing at you. Kinda made ’em gun-shy a little bit. Like we’re not gonna keep throwing, we not gonna keep throwing at this guy just because he’s like a ball hawk.”
Bishop didn’t exactly have the reputation of being a ball hawk coming out of college. He only recorded interceptions in two of his college seasons (three in 2021 with Western Kentucky and four in 2023 with West Virginia). Then you factor in Bishop being an undrafted free agent and getting starting snaps as a slot corner, and most quarterbacks would love to pick on him early and often.
And quarterbacks did go after him. The Los Angeles Chargers targeted him a season-high eight times in Week 3. And then Rodgers targeted him seven times in Week 7. Since then, only one quarterback has targeted Bishop more than twice in a single game: Cleveland’s Jameis Winston. And Winston is exactly the opposite of gun-shy.
Now part of that coincides with the return of CB Cam Sutton. Bishop has only recorded one game of 25+ snaps since Week 8. But he played more coverage snaps against the Giants (39) than the Jets (35). And the Giants only targeted him three times (and he still snagged an interception).
So even if Beanie Bishop Jr. might be playing a bit less than he was, he certainly is being targeted a lot less. I guess that’s what happens when you pick off a four-time NFL MVP like Aaron Rodgers twice in one game.
And speaking of Rodgers, he did end up signing the two footballs that Bishop snagged in that game.
