PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers undrafted free agent Bishop Beanie has a chip on his shoulder after not being drafted, but he also has extra motivation from a doubter in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
“I had a teacher that once told me, when I told her I wanted to be a professional football player, ‘Get a real job – that’s not possible.’ So I always try to do the impossible,” Bishop said on Friday.
Bishop already proved his former teacher wrong by signing with an NFL team, but he wants to make sure his spot on the roster is secure. Roster security as an undrafted free agent is certainly not a given.
“Yeah, it’s just a testament to all the work that I put in. Like I said, it’s just one of those things that fuel the fire,” Bishop said. “I always felt that I was overlooked and undervalued, so it just helps me whenever I get comfortable or anything. Remember guys didn’t think that you should be here.”
According to Chad Reuter of NFL Network, Bishop is considered the best cornerback among this year’s undrafted free agents.
Upon his arrival in Morgantown, Bishop instantly displayed a high level of confidence, but his spirit only increased after proving his true potential as a Mountaineer. He’s then put that on display at the East-West Shrine Bowl, as his focus is on impressing NFL scouts enough to be drafted. Bishop was one of the standouts at the Big 12’s Pro Day.
“And that I can tackle well. I finished the season with 60 tackles (67). Not a lot of DBs like to tackle. And I love to tackle. I’m a physical DB, can play inside and outside,” Bishop said.
He ran a 4.39 forty and a 4.15 20-yard shuttle, which would have been among the best times at the NFL Combine. Given his projection in the slot, the Steelers had to take note of Bishop’s level of testing.
“I wanted to show that I’m elite when the ball is in the air. Whenever the ball is in the air, it’s just as much mine as it is theirs (the receivers),” Bishop explained when asked what he wanted to show during the 2023 season.
To that regard, Bishop picked off four passes and wrecked games for opposing quarterbacks all throughout the year, most notably getting to Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec in WVU’s Backyard Brawl win and recording two interceptions on the road at UCF. He also helped keep the Mountaineers at the top of college football in ball-hawk rate with 20 pass deflections.
Steelers general manager Omar Khan recently discussed how the team is excited to have Bishop on the roster during an interview on the DVE Morning Show.
“Yeah, Beanie Bishop. I can’t tell you how excited we were to have an opportunity to sign Beanie Bishop after the draft. We had him here for a visit. When he was here, we talked about our defense and how he would fit in. We really felt like he was a guy that could come in here and compete,” Khan said, via SteelersNation.com.
The Steelers have a glaring hole at slot cornerback right now, and Khan thinks Bishop could be a player that steps up in that role.