The 2024 Senior Bowl will provide an opportunity for NFL draft prospects to prove themselves on the largest pre-draft stage. Utah safety Cole Bishop plans on taking full advantage. Bishop recently spoke exclusively with the Senior Bowl and Draft Network to discuss his motivation for accepting his invitation to compete in Mobile, Alabama.
Bishop also discussed what he's striving to prove to NFL general managers and scouts in attendance at the Senior Bowl, playing interchangeable roles as a versatile safety, how he’d write his own scouting report, and more. Let's get to know Bishop better ahead of his journey to the Senior Bowl.
JM: Where were you when you found out about your Senior Bowl invite and what was your initial reaction?
Cole Bishop: I was at home with my family in Georgia when I found out about my invite. We were super excited for me to receive this terrific opportunity. It’s another chance for me to showcase my abilities against some of the best competition the nation has to offer. I’m super excited about what’s to come.
JM: What motivated you to accept the Senior Bowl’s offer?
Cole Bishop: It’s an opportunity for me to show the scouts everything I can before the 2024 NFL Draft gets here. I feel like every opportunity is one that has to be seized. I always want to showcase what I’m capable of. That’s what every draft prospect will spend the next few months doing.
JM: Getting a bit more specific, what are you hoping to prove to NFL general managers, coaching staffs, and scouts in attendance in Mobile?
Cole Bishop: I’m excited to compete in the drills that the Senior Bowl has planned for us. I’m definitely going to put my best foot forward and compete to the best of my ability. The individual drills, one-on-ones, everybody looks forward to those drills throughout the week of practice.
I’m still figuring out exactly what we’ll be doing out there (laughs). It’s obviously my first time going to Mobile. I’m ready to compete and prove that I’m the best player at my position.
JM: So if you were writing your own scouting report, how would you describe your skill set in your own words? Self-scout yourself.
Cole Bishop: I’d say I’m a smart player first and foremost. I come from a great culture in Utah. The words we built our culture around were relentless, smart, nasty, and ballhawks. I’ve sort of built my game around those beliefs. I embody that. I’m always giving it 100%.
I’m relentless in my pursuit to always be around the ball. I play a smart brand of football by having good situational awareness. I think football IQ is one of my best attributes. I make smart plays because I have a lot of knowledge of the game.
I’m also a ballhawk. I’m always trying to create takeaways through forced fumbles and interceptions. Picking up a fumble recovery and whatnot. That’s the stuff I’m all about,
JM: We love that. If you had to compare yourself to a current NFL safety, who would you choose and why?
Cole Bishop: That’s a tough question. There are so many great safeties in the league. I really like Harrison Smith from the Minnesota Vikings. He’s extremely versatile. I feel like he does a lot of great things on the back end of that defense.
I would compare myself to any versatile safety that’s able to do a bunch of things. I’m not somebody that’s stuck in single-high or stuck playing the box. I feel like I’m able to do a lot of different things.
JM: We’ve seen that on tape. As a safety in today’s pass-happy NFL, how important is it for you to be interchangeable with your safety partner, to complement each other’s skill sets and vice versa?
Cole Bishop: It’s incredibly important. My guy Sione Vaki, who is playing in the Senior Bowl, we had that type of chemistry. I only played the strong safety position throughout my first two years at Utah. This year, since Vaki and I were able to do so much, we pretty much played sides. I might be the strong safety on one play and the free safety on the very next play.
Doing that with Sione Vaki was awesome. It helped us see so much more on the back end of our defense. I look forward to hopefully building a similar connection and chemistry with my safety partner at the next level.
JM: You leave Utah with 14 pass break-ups and three interceptions to your name. What is it about your game that allows you to get your hands on the ball so often?
Cole Bishop: I think a lot of that goes back to what I said earlier about my situational awareness. I play a smart brand of football. It depends on down and distance. I always have a good idea of what route combinations are coming. I always know which concepts to expect.
I can sit at the sticks on 3rd-and-long because they’re not throwing a five-yard pass on 3rd-and-15. I can sit and wait on the route. I play the game with a terrific amount of anticipation.
JM: You made a bunch of great plays due to situational awareness. What’s on Cole Bishop’s pre-game playlist?
Cole Bishop: Anything really (laughs). I’m not overly picky, nor do I have anything crazy on there, I like a little bit of rap music. I definitely have some Lil Wayne and Eminem on there.
JM: At the end of the week, what does a successful Senior Bowl look like for Cole Bishop?
Cole Bishop: A successful Senior Bowl means I left happy about my overall performance. Reporters and scouts are always going to have their opinions. Being happy with myself comes first and foremost. I have the highest expectations for myself. Being happy with my performance is my main goal.
I want to be a great tackler. I want to win the majority of my one-v-one isolated reps. Those are the goals I’m setting out to achieve in Mobile.
