Steelers linebacker Devin Bush is heading into the final year of his contract, and it sounds like the 2022 campaign could be his final season in Pittsburgh. Mark Kaboly of The Athletic writes that the 2022 campaign “is likely Bush’s last year with the Steelers.”
The writing was on the wall when the Steelers refused to pick up the former first-round pick’s fifth-year option. After tearing his ACL during the 2020 season, Bush struggled following his return to the field in 2021. While the linebacker managed to start each of his 14 games, he finished with only 70 tackles…a far cry from the 109 he compiled in 16 games as a rookie. Meanwhile, Pro Football Focus ranked Bush 82nd among 87 qualifying linebackers, with the site being particularly harsh when it came to his rush defense.
Of course, this wasn’t the intended outcome. The Steelers traded up during the 2019 draft to select Bush with the 10th overall pick, and the expectation was that the Michigan product would be a mainstay on Pittsburgh’s defense for the foreseeable future. His rookie campaign saw him earn All-Rookie honors, but the 2020 ACL tear has derailed his career. A report from last December indicated that while Bush was well liked within the locker room, the organization had grown frustrated with his lack of development.
“I think Devin Bush will be a better player in 2022,” Colbert said earlier this offseason.
If the Steelers had picked up Bush’s fifth-year option, the organization would have been on the hook for $10.5MM. Following a dreadful 2021 campaign, it’s not a surprise that the Steelers didn’t want to commit that kind of future money to the linebacker, and barring a remarkable turnaround in 2022, it’s unlikely Bush will command that kind of money once he hits unrestricted free agency next offseason.
Bye.
bye to him getting 5th year option kind of money , but an extension isn’t out of the question.
this isn’t a pure bust, a la Jarvis Jones… dude was a stud his rookie year .. hopefully last season was a wake-up call for him
I’ve hears Myles Jack is helping him a lot this off-season and they could both be quite the tandem this season.
If he has a good enough season where Pittsburgh wants to sign him to an extension, I gotta believe he’d test FA. I don’t think he’d give them any discount after they passed on him. Hardly ever happens that way
Kevin Colbert drafted good players but constantly reached for players. Bush was his last and worst
He’s up there, but I’ll give him a final chance, as he was coming off a torn ACL and wasn’t COMPLETELY terrible in his rookie season.
Remember that we’ve also drafted Jarvis Jones and Artie Burns in the first round. Limas Sweed (even if it was in the second round) is also up there
I actually can’t think of a single reach outside of Bush
like Wagner said, most of the busts were when they tried to draft for position need late round 1 like ziggy hood or artie burns.
Artie Burns. Limas Sweed. Sean Davis. The list is endless. But it would be for any team, no? Drafting is a lot like playing the lottery in many regards
kind of but, outside of QBs, I think they know when they’re getting something
the issue is if there is a player who fits ur scheme available in the round you’d like to value that position
To be fair to Colbert, most of the Steelers’ first rounders have been players who were thought of as being first round talents. There aren’t many guys that absolutely shocked people, even amongst his disappointments. I can’t say the same for every GM.
Bush played the way that he was supposed to his rookie year. That knee injury obviously derailed him.
Yeah, I don’t really recall Bush being a reach. I think people started convincing themselves of that because they traded up for him, but Devin was a borderline top ten pick all along.
So we’re Burns, Jones, and Sweed. The only ones that really stick out as first round reaches to me were Edmunds and Pickett; both of which were obvious “need/fit over talent” picks
They traded a 2nd and 3rd to move up to draft an ILB. Not a QB. Not a LT.
Bush seriously might’ve fell to 20
Middle linebacker is still an important piece; you saw how the defense folded without Shazier down the stretch.
It was very unlikely that Bush would have fallen to 20. The only 2019 mock draft I could find with such a projection was by Chad Reuter, who even admitted Bush had fallen in his mock. Every other draft had Bush going either 10th or 11th
picketts not a reach until someone can name a better option for them at 20 ..
Trading down
what if Carolina trades up ahead of them after they trade down tho?
talk about a disaster …
bottom line is the guy they wanted was there and they took him regardless of value, they left the draft with the guy they wanted. I’d say that’s pretty good
I just question if Pickett is talented enough that missing out on him is all that big of a deal.
It’s certainly telling that there was a lack of consensus regarding the top QB in the draft and, after Kenny, the next QB was chosen in the 3rd round
It’s only good if he is good. Pickett may not have been taken until the 2nd round. No other quarterback was taken until the 3rd round. Most people had him as a 3rd round talent in a normal year.
a lot of ppl have him as being similar to Baker or Darnold
I call that pretty solid pick at 20 with only Trubisky on the roster
look at where these bone headed organizations selected those 2 guys in their drafts
nothing would be worse for the steelers than leaving that draft without Kenny P
a lot of ppl wanted steelers to tank for him, and some of the same ones are calling it a reach at 20
I call it.. they got their guy
The people that wanted the Steelers to tank for him were homers. Let’s face it, he played for the local team. Cleveland fans want them to draft all Buckeyes and no Michigan players. Pittsburgh was not going to get any of the top quarterbacks in the 2023 draft, but I think it’s better to get the 3rd best quarterback from a deep class than the best from a week class. This draft was the weakest for quarterbacks in 25 years I heard
and I’m yet to hear who would’ve been a better pick at 20
only guy i can think of is George Pickens and they got him r2 anyways
in other words, If those are the 2 guys they wanted, does it really make a difference if they nab Pickens at 20 and Pickett at 48 or wtvr just to make the peepoos happy?
Every team got who they wanted
@barebackbrownsfcker9 it’s outrageous to suggest every team got who they wanted..
sometimes you get your top target other times you don’t.. it’s not like the Browns who get to pick 1st every year and choose their own demise
as recently as 2016 the Steelers wanted William Jackson iii .. the Begals knew this and took him 1 pick ahead of the steelers even tho they didn’t need a CB..
the steelers then panicked, went with next best CB and took Artie Burns which ended up being an awful pick
I’m sure plenty of teams wanted Jameson or Jordan Davis this year before those teams traded ahead of them
We’re back at square one. They should have traded down
I agree with the sentiment of trading down as far as adding another asset and still getting same result with Pickett later…. if that scenario was a lock…
but we’re back to my initial rebuttal,
is getting an extra 4th rounder etc. outweigh the value of risking not getting Pickett if you trade down?
idk why ppl are still giving any credence to the idea that the round other QBs went has anything to do with where Pickett went..
like if a QB goes 2nd overall and the next QB doesn’t go until pick 25, wouldn’t that be dumb to suggest that the QB at pick 2 would’ve been there at pick 25?
when the top QB is selected has literally nothing to do with when the next QB is taken.
The quarterbacks were considered equal. At least a few of them. Nobody stood out. It was similar to the draft where Mayfield, Darnold, Rosen, Allen and Jackson were all 1st round picks. There really wasn’t much separation from the top 4.
So if he plays like he did pre-ACL tear, we have it in good authority from Kaboly that he’s gone. Yeah. Ok
I know it’s off season and you pick at scraps for articles, but the logical narrative would have been, “Bush faces a put-up or get-out season ahead”.
… or his 100% right and he is gone regArdless of 2022 production. Can’t pay everyone. Draft his replacement and move ahead.
not necessarily the easiest position to fill..
They can work out a deal to keep him (if necessary) .. he will be an RFA if he hits the market
His last season at Michigan before the State game he went to the Spartan logo and started digging his spikes into the logo to say FU to them. Now during games he looks like someone stool his bike. He needs to fall in love with football again. One of the best thing about Steelers linebackers of great were that you could just tell how much they all loved playing football.
I think that’s the thing that bothers me most about his play last year—so many downs where it seemed like he didn’t care or want to get involved. We’ve all seen the iso clips of it. It’s concerning
I was never anything approaching a pro athlete but know first hand how difficult it is coming back from an ACL tear, both as a weekend warrior and as a coach. I’d like to attribute his occasional on-field demeanor to just that—being frightened about the stability of the knee. Guess we’ll find out
The kid was never a “reach” as a 1st rounder. That injury led to the demise of many great players in various sports. Hope he has recovered physically, and mentally