The Pittsburgh Steelers felt as thought they may have found another diamond in the rough at the slot cornerback position in Beanie Bishop Jr. The rookie was signed as an undrafted free agent after finishing his college career at West Virginia, and was quickly listed as Pittsburgh's starting slot corner. It's not often that an undrafted rookie sees an opportunity like that, but it has taken a turn for the rookie after dealing with an injury late in the preseason.
Bishop was having a promising training camp for Pittsburgh, but he suffered a minor injury that limited him during the Steelers' joint practice with the Buffalo Bills ahead of the Steelers' second preseason game.
This injury kept Bishop inactive against Buffalo, and then he didn't get to see the field until the second half during the preseason finale against the Detroit Lions despite being healthy. Head Coach Mike Tomlin was asked about Bishop not being on the field early during his postgame press conference.
"You know, he hadn't worked a lot. You got to earn opportunity. Glad that he is healthy; we wanted to give him an opportunity, but when you go in the game often times it's kind of reflective of the work that you do leading up to the performance, and to be quite honest with you he has had limited availability, so he wasn't deserving of those reps that you spoke of."
Bishop is still listed as the starter on Pittsburgh's depth chart, but he wasn't on the field with the starters. In fact, he didn't make it onto the field until the second half of the game. It is unclear what kind of injury Bishop was dealing with, but it has kept him limited throughout the last week and a half of practice. Tomlin and the rest of the coaching staff instead decided to give the starting reps to who they thought was deserving, which happened to be Thomas Graham Jr.
Even though Bishop has already been labeled a starter, the coaching staff clearly wants him to know that he has more to prove. It isn't easy to make a final roster as an undrafted rookie, and it is even more difficult to become a starter. Often times undrafted players are kept on the roster as special teams players or as guys who are buried in the depth chart, and Bishop needs to prove he is deserving of trotting out with the starters Week 1.
Bishop's roster spot likely isn't in any danger. He almost certainly will make the final roster, especially with how desperate Pittsburgh is at the position with Cam Sutton being suspended the first eight games of the season. It is one of the weakest spots on the roster, and Pittsburgh's overall cornerback depth is already questionable.
Pittsburgh will make cuts on Tuesday, and they will be practicing Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week before they have a long weekend ahead of their first week of preparation for the Atlanta Falcons. It will be a big week for Bishop, as he needs to prove he can be relied upon as an impact player.
Steelers Should Be Worried About Cornerback Position
Pittsburgh's budding star at cornerback, Joey Porter Jr., missed the team's preseason finale due to an injury. This was labeled a precautionary measure by Tomlin, and the injury shouldn't be considered serious. Cory Trice Jr. started in his place, and performed well but suffered a groin injury. The room is already fairly banged up and the season hasn't even begun, which means General Manager Omar Khan may seriously look at bringing in some external help in the secondary.
There is plenty of time for the secondary to get back to full health ahead of the season opener on September 8th. But Pittsburgh should still consider bringing in some veteran help, as the unit is young and has proved to be fragile.
