(Nick Farabaugh, Steelers Now)
The Pittsburgh Steelers are naturally in the market for defensive backs this offseason. One of those will be a slot cornerback who can bring the heat off the edge and play with a chip on their shoulder. If they want that, they might not have to go far.
Upon his arrival in Morgantown, Beanie Bishop instantly displayed a high level of confidence, but his spirit only increased after proving his true potential as a Mountaineer. He’s now putting that on display at the East-West Shrine Bowl, as his focus is on impressing NFL scouts enough to be drafted. At the Big 12’s Pro Day, Bishop was one of the standouts.
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 hs projects in the slot, the Steelers should take notice of Bishop’s level of testing.
And now that Bishop earned recognition as a consensus All-American, his plan is to take his game to an even greater level and achieving success in the NFL. He elaborated on his intentions from his time at WVU and how his long season representing West Virginia shaped his mentality moving forward into the league.
“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. And 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.”
But most importantly for the Louisville, Kentucky, native, he showed he’s a complete corner who can tackle and screen off the edge if needed.
“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 while exuding that confidence WVU fans grew to love so much.
Feeling he always needs to keep proving himself, Bishop then touched on what he hopes NFL scouts realize about him after the East-West Shrine Bowl. And he wants to prove just how complete of a player he has become.
“I want to be able to show them that I can handle the volume of the playbook, make checks and adjustments and just be able to play inside and outside.”
Bishop even mentioned a couple legendary names when it comes to past or present NFL players he models his game after. He says he studies Ed Reed and Sean Taylor more than anyone playing today. Their physicality is what attracts Bishop to their games.
For the Steelers, that could be the type of guy they want out of the slot that can give them versatility back at safety, too.
This story initially appeared on our partner site Steelers Now.
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