‘I want Beanie’ — Steelers coaches handpick 1-on-1 matchup Bishop vs. George Pickens

After the first full-team drill of Wednesday’s Pittsburgh Steelers training-camp practice, the defensive backs and wide receivers groups gathered opposite each other near the goal line on the left side as viewed from the bleachers at Chuck Noll Field.

Quarterbacks stood in line between the hashes at about the 10-yard line, prepared to throw to receivers matched up in one-on-one “island” drills with cornerbacks and safeties. Lines formed seemingly at random, and coaches generally let the organically wrought matchups play out or let the players on each side choose their own opponent for the drill.

But when George Pickens — the clear Alpha among the WRs — lined up for a rep, secondary coach Grady Brown wasn’t going to let safety Ryan Watts offer himself up.

“No, no, no, no,” Brown yelled. “I want Beanie!”

There’s been a lot of wanting to see Beanie through the first week of training camp, and that continued during the camp’s second padded session Wednesday. In addition to taking an abundance of first-team reps as the nickel/slot DB, undrafted rookie Beanie Bishop was the handpicked combatant for WR1 Pickens.

Twice. The same scenario played out for Pickens’ second rep: Brown asked another defensive back to stand down and asked for Bishop to step up to the challenge.

Signed after the draft ended following a fine sixth college season at West Virginia, Bishop was lapped on many team’s draft boards because he stands just 5-foot-9.

“(Brown) just wanted me to get that work in before games when some teams might have a bigger guy in the slot and try the slot fade and things like that,” Bishop said of getting matched up on the 6-3 Pickens. “So just being able to get that work in right now is crucial.”

Beanie Bishop is trying to join ex-Steeler Mike Hilton as undrafted free agents who earned not just roster spots but starting jobs at slot corner with the Steelers. https://t.co/5G34L3jAhV

— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) July 27, 2024

Wednesday’s scorecard provided two wins for Bishop against Pickens — albeit with asterisks. The first throw from Justin Fields was off-target. Pickens used his height to “high-point” the ball on the second rep and rolled down to the ground without Bishop getting his hands on the ball. Officials on hand for practice, though, ruled Pickens did not have control when he hit the ground and did not award him the catch.

Regardless of the “official” result, the germane point is that Steelers coaches continue to feed Bishop with prime assignments and responsibilities and are eager to see how he responds.

So far, the returns have been positive.

“I always just go out there with the mentality that I am going to win,” Bishop said. “I don’t really plan to lose — other than if my technique is bad, and technique can always be fixed. Mentality is hard to coach.”

It was just the latest illustration among a mountain of evidence that — barring a complete collapse — Bishop is set to begin the regular season as the Steelers’ first-team nickel defensive back. Aside from an occasional three-safety package in which DeShon Elliott moves down to the slot, Bishop has run with the starters as the nickel since the first drill of the first practice. That figures to continue throughout camp and the preseason.