While wide receiver depth has attracted most of the attention this offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers, there is another position that is a much bigger issue at the moment. That is slot corner, where they are relying on undrafted rookie Beanie Bishop Jr. and Thomas Graham Jr., who has only played 11 games in three NFL seasons. Josiah Scott was waived early in training camp and Grayland Arnold suffered an injury that landed him on IR before being released with an injury settlement.
In today’s NFL with pass-first offenses, slot corner is essentially a starting position on defense. The Steelers spent over half their time in dime and nickel packages last season.
Bishop has been listed as the starting slot corner since the initial depth chart was released ahead of the preseason opener. He also ran with the first-team defense for much of camp, but a lot of that had to do with the lack of availability from the other players. Tomlin has repeatedly cautioned reporters to not read too much into Bishop’s current role.
He backed that up in today’s press conference when asked if Bishop has shown enough when healthy for the starting slot corner job.
“Absolutely not,” Tomlin said in a video posted on the Steelers’ YouTube channel.
Bishop missed the second preseason game with a minor injury, which Tomlin described during the press conference today.
“He’ll be ready tomorrow or Saturday, but we did cut some of his reps in an effort to best put him in position to be ready to perform,” Tomlin said. “He deals with day-to-day training camp injuries like a lot of guys out here.”
They are limiting his workload in practice to ensure he is healthy and ready to contribute during the preseason finale. Tomlin has said multiple times over the last few weeks that he puts more weight on the preseason games over practice performance because it is closer to the real thing.
Bishop only played 20 snaps in the preseason opener. He had a nice tackle at the line of scrimmage crashing inside, but he also took some rookie lumps that are to be expected.
I don’t think Tomlin was shutting down the possibility of Bishop earning that role, just that he hasn’t earned it yet.
But if Beanie Bishop isn’t the answer, then who?
Graham received some high praise from defensive coordinator Teryl Austin last week for always being around the football and making plays. Tomlin mentioned Graham today but noted the slot corner position is still unsettled.
“It’s a work in progress,” Tomlin said. “…One man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. Thomas Graham has been given a lot of opportunity because of some misfortune of others. But we have some position flexibility within our defensive backfield, so it’s not a big concern as I stand here today. But again, we’re not in that scarcity mindset. We’re just in an opportunity mindset, and so it’s really about the opportunities that guys get at this juncture.”
S DeShon Elliott worked in the slot throughout training camp and should be one of the Steelers’ options. On obvious passing downs, they may opt to have Elliott in the slot and Damontae Kazee back at safety alongside Minkah Fitzpatrick. But they need a slot corner for the early downs to allow Elliott to play his natural position.
It sounds like Bishop, Graham, or both are going to need to show some things in the final preseason game to justify a potential role on the defense. If neither seizes the opportunity, the Steelers could very well go outside the organization at roster cutdowns next Tuesday to add to the position. Patrick Peterson and Chandon Sullivan are still available, for what it’s worth.
