Can Mike Tomlin be more optimistic about his 53-man roster heading into the Week 10 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers? For starters, the Pittsburgh Steelers parted ways with second-year cornerback Beanie Bishop, who had been on the practice squad. And when asked about those moves, Tomlin didn’t dive into the details. Instead, he made it clear his focus is locked on the 53-man roster.

“You know, I’m not getting into practice squad decisions, that’s just too far down the totem pole,” the head coach said, per the Steelers Depot. “I’m more interested in what we need to do this week and the guys that are on the 53 we’re preparing to play.”

The Steelers will travel to LA to face the Chargers at SoFi Stadium after a crucial 27-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9. But ahead of the matchup, Tomlin and his staff released Bishop to add a wide receiver to the practice squad. While Tomlin refused to address the roster cut decision, we’ll study the Steelers’ latest move.

The cornerback spent six seasons in college before declaring for the NFL Draft last year. But draft week didn’t go the way he’d hoped, as the 25-year-old went undrafted. Soon after, the Steelers picked him up as an undrafted free agent. Bishop made the most of the opportunity. He suited up for every game in his rookie season and finished with 45 tackles (30 solo and 15 assisted).

But fast forward to 2025, and Mike Tomlin made one thing clear. The second-year CB Bishop would still have to compete for the job, and it wouldn’t just be handed to him.

“It was a good start for him, particularly being an undrafted guy the way that he was. It’s reasonable to expect him to continue to grow and take off and be able to do some more things,” Tomlin said. “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 in 2025, but that’s just the nature of this thing.”

Subsequently, Bishop’s training camp battle led him to the practice squad. And a few months later, he was released by the Steelers to make some room for Aaron Rodgers‘ former wideout.

Mike Tomlin brought Aaron Rodgers’ former WR

“I think MVS wants to be on an active roster, so if there wasn’t an opportunity here for that, then I guess he’s waiting for something else,” Rodgers said, referring to his former WR, Marquez Valdes-Scantling. “But I don’t fault him. I love MVS. Whether he is here or somewhere else, I’m always calling for him.”

Fast forward to now, and the Steelers have officially signed Valdes-Scantling to reunite him with Rodgers, per Jeremy Fowler. The move included some delay. After all, the Steelers worked out with the veteran wideout last week. But they didn’t sign him ahead of the Colts game.

But now that he’s in Pittsburgh, we can expect him to become one of Rodgers’ preferred targets moving forward. The QB-WR duo spent four seasons together with the Green Bay Packers from 2018 until the end of MVS’s rookie contract with the Packers in 2021.

In the process, the wideout played 59 games with Rodgers in Green Bay and started 39. In those games, he hauled in 123 passes and returned them for 2,153 yards and 13 touchdowns. For now, whether that same connection between Rodgers and MVS will show up again? That remains to be seen as we head into Week 10.