Mike Tomlin Explains Shocking Demotion of Promising Rookie Cornerback

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers switched up their slot cornerback snaps against the Cincinnati Bengals. For the first time all season, Cam Sutton outnsapped Beanie Bishop by far. Bishop played a season-low six snaps, coming in during the team’s dime packages.

So, why was the move made, especially with Bishop playing solid football over the last few weeks? Head coach Mike Tomlin explained that the Steelers simply wanted a veteran presence like Sutton back there since they were going to run so many different coverages against Joe Burrow.

“Just the complexities of what they do offensively, the fact that we were facing Joe Burrow. Some of the challenges in terms of how they move people around, I thought it would benefit us to have a more veteran guy in the interior of our sub package, and it would aid us, not only in terms of concept recognition, but communication. Beanie [Bishop] still played in the game, and he’s going to be a big-time component of what we do, and we’re pleased with his contributions thus far. But week in and week out, we divide the labor up and the effort to win that game, and that’s why we were so excited about getting Cam back,” Tomlin said.

That does not mean Bishop will not get the majority of snaps this week. In fact, Bishop is the starting slot cornerback on the depth chart. Meanwhile, Sutton has flipped between the slot, dimebacker, and safety on different weeks. All of this comes together to create a fluid situation from week to week rather than a set depth chart.

Bishop has come on in recent weeks, taking his game to the next level and finding comfort as a rookie later in the season. The Steelers will need him to continue playing well if they want the secondary to improve.