Beanie Bishop Jr. has been carrying a giant chip on his shoulder most of his life. And that chip — created by feeling constantly overlooked — serves as extra motivation for the undrafted free-agent cornerback.
“The chip never leaves my shoulder,” said Bishop before training camp practice on Sunday. “Even when I get done playing, I will always have the chip on my shoulder just because of the way that I grew up and things like that. It’s just something that never leaves me.”
These comments come on the heels of Bishop’s first big opportunity early in his NFL career – starting at nickel in the Steelers’ preseason opener. Bishop offered his own evaluation of his performance in Pittsburgh’s 20-12 loss to the Houston Texans.
“I think I did a solid job,” he said. “There were some plays that I kind of left out there. Made a couple of mistakes. Things I can build off of being my first game and things like that. Next week I’m going to build off of that and correct the mistakes that I made and try not to have them again.”
Bishop finished second on the defense in total tackles, with all four coming as solo tackles. But at the same time, the Texans also targeted Bishop’s side of the field frequently, likely trying to pick on the rookie to test him.
Bishop did show hustle but also got beat when out in space by Texans’ receivers. Houston’s rookie tight end Cade Stover was even able to take advantage of Bishop blitzing for a 16-yard gain.
“I thought he did some good things tonight but we got a lot of work in front of us and opportunities for a young guy like him to round out his game from a detail perspective,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin in his postgame press conference.
Bishop will now need to keep putting in work at training camp and continue to impress Tomlin enough to earn more opportunities in games. It now remains to be seen if Bishop starts again in Pittsburgh’s next preseason game against Buffalo on Saturday, Aug. 17.
Bishop’s camp success might be surprising for some, but it’s just the latest example of the former West Virginia Mountaineer making the most of every opportunity.
Bishop has continually reiterated his desire to prove his doubters, even NFL teams who passed on him, wrong ever since he showed up in Pittsburgh as a free-agent signee of the Steelers.
“It’s one of those things that helps me every day whenever I think about getting comfortable,” Bishop expressed to WV Sports Now in May.
Bishop has actually carried a chip on his shoulder going back to when he was an undersized kid. That chip then intensified when he had to start his college career at a Group of 5 program in Western Kentucky.
“I’m 0 surprised with Beanie. He’s a football player. He may not check off all the boxes but he’s a football player,” said WVU head coach Neal Brown when asked about Bishop already making his presence felt with the Steelers.
