No apologies from Steelers CB Beanie Bishop over wiping his feet on Pitt logo

Beanie Bishop would do it again.

A day after posting a video that showed him wiping his cleats on the Pitt logo, the second-year Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback and West Virginia alum was unapologetic about an action that upset Panthers players, alumni and fans.

“It’s a rivalry,” Bishop said Wednesday after organized team activities. “People aren’t going to like me based off what school I went to, and that’s fine. It’s part of the rivalry. We don’t like them guys. They don’t like us.”

Bishop spent his final collegiate season at West Virginia, following stops at Minnesota and Western Kentucky, before the Steelers signed him as an undrafted free agent in the 2024 spring. The Steelers and Pitt share the training facility at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex and have locker rooms on opposite sides of the building.

Bishop found himself in the Pitt locker room on Tuesday because the Steelers were using it for a photo shoot. Players were required to be in full uniform for the shoot. Bishop used the occasion to take a jab at the Panthers by wiping his shoes on the logo, posting a video of his slight on his social media accounts.

“It was fun,” Bishop said. “I didn’t have no liking for those guys over there. It’s part of it.”

Bishop said it was partially done as a joke, saying he is friends with former Pitt player MJ Devonshire, another member of the 2024 draft class.

“I got some guys I am cool with that I train with who went to Pitt,” he said. “It was toward them a little bit. They talk mess to me, and I talk mess to them.”

Stepping on a school logo is no joking matter to some. When Michigan tried to plant its flag on the Ohio State logo after an upset victory last fall, it sparked an on-field brawl.

The gesture apparently didn’t go unnoticed by members of the current Panthers team. A Pitt workout ended before the Steelers’ OTA session, and a dozen Panthers players sat on the bench watching the conclusion.

“They always talk,” Bishop said. “After they beat us last year, they had a lot to say. Then, things got quiet as the season went on.”

That was another jab toward the Panthers, who lost their final six games after a 7-0 start that included a 38-34 victory against the Mountaineers.

“I looked at it as the Beanie Bishop fan club,” he said.

Bishop sees nothing wrong with adding some spice to a Backyard Brawl rivalry that will be dormant after this season. After the conclusion of this four-game series, the Panthers and Mountaineers won’t play again until 2029.

“It’s self-explanatory,” he said about the rivalry. “If you go and ask them, they probably hate me. Do I care? No, not really. That’s just part of it. If you ask any fan in Baltimore what they think about the Steelers, they hate us.

“It is what it is. It’s part of the rivalry. I’m only concerned about the Pittsburgh Steelers fans and the West Virginia fans in that instance.”

Of more importance to Bishop this spring is regaining a starting job at slot cornerback that he lost in the second half of last season when Cameron Sutton returned from suspension. Bishop started five of the first 10 games, then had single-digit snap counts on defense three times in the final seven games. He played one snap on defense in the wild-card playoff loss at Baltimore.

“I have a lot of improvement to do,” he said.

The Steelers didn’t re-sign Sutton, but they gave Brandin Echols, who has NFL experience in the slot, a two-year, $6 million contract. He is expected to be Bishop’s main competition in training camp.

“It’s reasonable to expect him to continue to grow and take off and be able to do some more things,” coach Mike Tomlin said about Bishop in March. “Excited about the upside of him, but certainly he’s going to be faced with some competitive challenges in terms of re-earning that role.”