The Pittsburgh Steelers have been pretty active in free agency, signing half a dozen or so outside players and re-signing a number of their own, ranging from well-paid starters to depth players. But they’ve also lost a fair number of players via free agency—though not all of them were surprises, nor disappointments.
While Steelers general manager Omar Khan acknowledged that they did offer safety Terrell Edmunds a contract he recently chose to sign instead with the Philadelphia Eagles, even though his new deal doesn’t guarantee to pay him any more than he earned last year. They also reportedly tried to re-sign Cameron Sutton.
According to Gerry Dulac, they were also outbid for inside linebacker Robert Spillane by the Las Vegas Raiders, according to his most recent chat from yesterday. But that’s evidently not what happened with Devin Bush, who signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks.
“FYI”, he wrote, “they did not make an offer to Bush”. It was in response to a question about free agents who opted to leave rather than stay with the team, the commenter noting that he did not know if the Steelers made an offer with Bush’s agent.
Not that anybody should be surprised, but evidently the Steelers were every bit as ready to move on from their former 10th-overall draft pick as he was ready to move on. After four seasons, the majority of which featured below-average play, it was always hard to imagine a scenario in which he wore the black and gold in 2023.
Some were willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt for his play in 2021, having just returned from a torn ACL. They speculated that he was not prepared to trust his knee, leading him to play tentatively. That doesn’t explain his performance in the 2022 season, which, though a modest improvement, still resulted in him playing just 10 snaps in the final two weeks with the playoffs on the line.
Rather than beat a dead horse, the Steelers have opted to turn over the inside linebacker room this season. In addition to allowing Bush to walk and not overbidding for Spillane, they released Myles Jack and his $8 million salary.
Thus far, they have replenished the room with two outside free agent additions, namely Cole Holcomb from the Washington Commanders on a three-year, $18 million deal and Elandon Roberts, most recently with the Miami Dolphins, on a two-year, $7 million deal.
Pittsburgh has lacked stability at inside linebacker since Ryan Shazier’s career-ending injury in 2017, a travesty from which the defense as a whole has still never fully recovered. While it’s unlikely that they would address the position in the first round, it would not be a surprise to see an inside linebacker come off the board at any time after that if the right prospect is available.
