Steelers Now
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin reveals one of their second-year players is on the roster bubble.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are just one week away from having to trim their roster from 90 players down to 53. That means their preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday will be a make-or-break game for several players.
Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin believes that is especially the case for second-year cornerback Beanie Bishop.
“He’s really going against some pretty good competition at the nickel now that you throw No. 5 (Jalen Ramsey) in there and then you throw (Brandin Echols) in there,” Austin said. “He’s really got to fight and work to make some splash to put himself in the picture.”
Pittsburgh does have one of the best secondaries its had in recent memory with players like Ramsey, Echols, Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay, Cory Trice Jr. and James Pierre, among others. That will make it much more difficult for a player like Bishop to make the roster compared to that of a year ago.
Bishop was one of the Steelers’ best stories last season as an undrafted free agent out of West Virginia. He made the team and recorded 45 tackles, 0.5 sack, one fumble recovery, seven passes defensed and four interceptions, two of which came against then New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, as a rookie.
Bishop’s track to making this year’s team will be a much more difficult task, though.
Luckily, he has never lacked work ethic. Austin believes that will help him perform at his best come Thursday.
“He’e been working his tail off,” Austin added. “When you’re not a starter, I think the biggest thing that’s got to happen for you is, all these preseason games are big because you have an opportunity to distance yourself from other people in game play. We see you in practice every day. We know what you do in practice, but how do you distance yourself in the game situation? Do you really show up on game day? So these preseason games are gonna be big for Beanie in the sense that he’s got one left to show us good stuff and I’m sure he will give it his all.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Teryl Austin Hints Make-Or-Break Game for Steelers Second-Year CB
