PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Beanie Bishop has taken first-team reps for a lot of training camp this year. Now the undrafted rookie is in a wait-and-see mode as he talked to reporters on Monday.
Before becoming a starter or thinking of playing time, he said he has to make the team. It would be a major upset for him to be released by the 4p deadline Tuesday after all of the time with the starters.
"It's a very frustrating and anxious time for a lot of people, myself included," Bishop said. "You never know. Guys are getting cut from other teams. They will bring in guys from other teams. There will be guys that are here today and gone tomorrow."
"I'm not looking ahead like you all are."
He missed the second preseason game, calling it horrible to miss any action. He said there is no replacing game reps mentioning he was early a couple times on blitzes Saturday in Detroit acknowledging he needs to get the timing down after missing about a week with an undisclosed injury.
"I was trying to get back as fast as possible," Bishop said. "If you get hurt, they are going to bring another guy in."
Bishop said he's been able to prove the plays he's made from running down ballcarriers, blitzing and guarding slot receivers. He's been around here long enough to say he won't get a free pass from Mike Tomlin.
"That's just how Coach is, he gets it out of players," Bishop said. "Obviously, this is a blue-collar football team. You have to work hard and not everything is going to be pretty and glamourous."
"Coach, he's like, 'man I need you to be angry. Somebody said something about your mom'. He's trying to give you extra motivation."
It's not that an undrafted All-American needs motivation after being passed over for seven rounds due to his height. The Steelers opportunity has been what Bishop has hoped for and in turn the team may have found another gem in the slot.
There seem to be two things that would make Bishop's Labor Day weekend, one is obviously making the team. The other is West Virginia beating Penn State as he will be heading back to Morgantown for the matchup Saturday.
