The Pittsburgh Steelers' secondary remaking appears to be officially complete. After signing veteran Darius Slay this offseason, Pittsburgh traded away All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins as part of a deal to acquire cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
Ramsey and Slay will join a Steelers cornerback room that leaned heavily on young players like Joey Porter Jr. and Beanie Bishop last season. While effective, Pittsburgh's fall-off at the end of last season has led to the belief that they need to pay top dollar to bring in some veteran names.
As with any competition, there will be some losers. The addition of Ramsey is sure to take snaps away from Bishop, despite the fact that he spent most of his rookie season making the league regret all the times they passed on him. The harsh reality of being a young player on a contender like Pittsburgh is hitting Bishop right in the face.
Steelers' Jalen Ramsey trade is bad news for Beanie Bishop
Bishop proved to be the most effective undrafted free agent in the 2024 class, starting four games and intercepting four passes during his rookie season. Bishop, a 25-year-old who came into the NFL with more reps than many players with years of pro experience, has room to grow into a high-end slot cornerback.
Slay is staying on the outside, and Ramsey's ability to play in the slot will likely not force him to kick inside full-time. Porter's length makes him almost exclusively an outside cornerback. Bishop needs to hope that the positional logjam leads to him getting some extra snaps.
However, Mike Tomlin is assuredly going to find some way to get his best three cornerbacks on the field as much as possible. Bishop's resume is dwarfed by those two veteran additions, and any sort of tie or impasse in playing time will likely be given to one of the big new names.
Bishop turned out to be an absolute gem of a UDFA signing, but it seems very hard to find a way where he can be an effective playmaker when he's limited to dime cornerback snaps. Then again, these veterans haven't always been ironmen. Bishop could give the Steelers some quality insurance.