With the Pittsburgh Steelers cancelling today’s practice to go have some fun and a relatively quiet news day (unless you’re WR Aron Cuickshank), it’s a good time to poke our head around the rest of the NFL. After all, it’s not just the Steelers looking to trim their roster. So are the Seattle Seahawks, who might be trying to move on from LB Devin Bush about as quickly as they acquired him.
Signed to a one-year deal in the offseason, Bush’s time with the Seahawks evidently hasn’t gone much better than it did with the Steelers. Seattle reporter Gregg Bell offered an overview of the team’s roster Sunday and served up this nugget on Bush.
“If Bush’s contract he signed as a free agent this spring didn’t guarantee he gets $2.99 million from the Seahawks this season, he’d likely be cut. They made [sic] be trying to trade him now that Brooks is back from his torn ACL to start with Wagner. Bush playing the first three quarters and getting a concussion covering a punt in the final preseason game, when all other veteran regulars where in sweatpants on the sidelines, was a signal he’s lost value.”
Pittsburgh traded up to draft Bush in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, looking to replace the speed and range Ryan Shazier had following his career-ending spinal injury. Bush never panned out in that way. He tore his ACL five games into his sophomore year and while he returned for the start of the 2021 season, he struggled against the run and the pass. Bush was too tentative against the run and his speed didn’t translate into becoming a good coverage linebacker. By the end of 2022, Bush rapidly lost playing time and the Steelers were using a trio of Myles Jack, Robert Spillane, and Mark Robinson ahead of him. A free agent this offseason, he inked a one-year, $3.5 million with Seattle on March 16.
The fact that Bush was running down punts in the preseason finale is obviously a poor sign. As Bell alludes to, the Seahawks are getting back their former first round pick Jordyn Brooks from a torn ACL. Meaning, Bush lacks a role. But his concussion could make him someone the team is unable to cut. While not known with certainty, the Seahawks may placed Bush on IR-to-return following Tuesday’s cutdown date, though it would mean he’d have to make the initial 53-man roster.
Bell suggests the Seahawks may try to trade Bush. But finding a trade partner for a concussed linebacker who has struggled throughout his career will be tough doing. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh overhauled its linebacker room with Cole Holcomb, Kwon Alexander, and Elandon Roberts along with special teamer Tanner Muse. There’s also the team’s only holdover, second-year thumper Mark Robinson.
Pittsburgh’s 2022 inside linebackers are in very different places. Bush’s NFL career is barely hanging on while Myles Jack nearly became an electrician, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, and then promptly retired. Robert Spillane has stuck with the Las Vegas Raiders and the team seems generally happy with his play.
