There are few fan bases that seem to take as much pleasure in schadenfreude than that of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Nothing pleases them more than watching a maligned former player underachieve in his new surroundings—though it must also be said that most are thrilled to point out how a former fan favorite is thriving elsewhere as well.
There are likely few remaining fans of Devin Bush in Pittsburgh, however. The 2019 first-round pick is widely regarded as having been a bust, even after playing at a borderline Pro Bowl level as a rookie. A player they traded up 10 spots to draft at No. 10 overall, he didn’t even have his fifth-year option picked up.
Bush signed with the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent, and he is in line to potentially start as the Steelers come to town this week. He has only made two starts this year and logged 156 snaps but could see a lot of burn against his former team. And he seems to believe he has the edge in knowing what they will do—specifically, running the football.
“That’s just the type of style they bring anywhere they go”, he recently told Seattle Sports in previewing the game against the Steelers. “They got those two backs for a reason, and obviously they don’t have [QB Kenny] Pickett back there, so what else would you do?”.
One might be inclined to question how much he watched Pittsburgh’s last game with Mason Rudolph at quarterback because they seemed to be throwing the ball with reasonable frequency. And they were more successful doing that than running the ball.
“So, I mean, yeah, they’re gonna bring it. They’re gonna run the ball”, Bush insisted. “This helps me out, because I used to be in 9-on-7 with those guys for four years, so I got a feel for and an eye for what to look for, what to see, how they move, who they want to run with, run behind, situations, stuff like that”.
Bush was in Pittsburgh when the Steelers drafted RB Najee Harris in the first round. He was still here when they uncovered Jaylen Warren a year ago as a diamond in the rough among rookie college free agents.
But I’m not sure what great insights he has into this offense. After all, it’s not even quite the same offense with Matt Canada gone. Sure, much is still the same, but especially with a different quarterback who has different preferences, you can’t expect everything to look so familiar.
As for Bush, he has 13 tackles on the season, six of which came just last week, including one of his two tackles for loss. He has no other statistics thus far. But he seems to be expect to be able to stack some tackles against the Steelers’ run game on Sunday to ring in the new year. Or will it be the same old Devin Bush who couldn’t even get a second contract offer from a team once so desperate to draft him?
