MARCH 22: Bush’s one-year deal is worth $3.5MM, per ESPN.com’s Brady Henderson (on Twitter). The former top-10 pick will receive the bulk of the money ($2.99MM) guaranteed.
MARCH 17: The Seahawks hosted a few players on free agency visits Thursday. Devin Bush stood out to the team, and the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta reports the veteran linebacker agreed to a deal.
A former top-10 Steelers draftee, Bush joined Julian Love and Lonnie Johnson on Seattle visits. GM John Schneider had recently said the inside linebacker position was an area of concern for the team, and Bush will be en route to help address it. This late-night agreement is a one-year pact, per Condotta.
Although Bush started 48 games during his Steelers rookie-contract years, this agreement will double as a flier. Pittsburgh reduced the former No. 10 overall pick’s playing time last season and revamped its inside linebacker group this week. Bush will also join a team that has seen some movement at the position. Seahawks 2022 starter Cody Barton signed with the Commanders.
The Steelers held high hopes for Bush. They traded up 10 spots with the Broncos, who drafted current Seahawks tight end Noah Fant at No. 20, in 2019. That move marked the first time Pittsburgh had moved up in Round 1 since selecting Troy Polamalu in 2003. Bush racked up stats as a rookie (109 tackles, nine TFLs, two INTs, four fumbles recoveries) but saw a 2020 ACL tear blunt his momentum. Over the past two years, the Michigan product ended up playing his way out of Pittsburgh.
Pro Football Focus graded Bush as a bottom-tier linebacker in 2021, as he struggled to return to form. While the advanced metrics site ranked the young defender just outside the top 50 at linebacker last season, the Steelers used him on career-low 62% of their defensive snaps. The team did not pick up Bush’s fifth-year option in 2022, sending him to this year’s market.
But Bush, he of a 4.43-second 40-yard dash time back in 2019, does not turn 25 until this summer and could become an important cog for the 2023 Seahawks. Barton is gone, and top linebacker Jordyn Brooks is recovering from an ACL tear sustained in January. The former first-round pick will be a candidate to the start the season on the reserve/PUP list.
The Seahawks have also been linked to a reunion with Bobby Wagner. The recent Rams cap casualty should still be expected to reside on the radar for a Seattle return, Condotta adds. Schneider and Pete Carroll have spoken with Wagner about a possible return, despite the team releasing him on the same day it traded Russell Wilson last year. Wagner asked for his Rams release, seeking to join a team in better position to contend in 2023. Despite the NFC West rivals’ statuses going into last season, the Seahawks suddenly look to be in a better contention spot. If Brooks is not back to start the season, the Seahawks will almost definitely need to make another starter-level linebacker addition.
Unless Seattle really needs a LB that cannot cover tight ends and regularly misses tackles, Bush is not the answer. A Bobby Wagner return would be cool though.
Bush not only became a player who was inconsistent, hesitant and disinterested on the playing field, but his answers to questions in Pittsburgh often showed him to be smug about his lack of performance, that even so, someone would sign him
Well, he was right
Can’t imagine how anyone in the Hawks front office looked at film of the guy and said yeah, we’ve got to sign him
Normally I say, “good guy and I hope he does well on his new team”. Here, I will wish Seattle fans a lot of luck and patience. You’re gonna need it
He’s still a high pedigree, high ceiling guy that they likely got super cheap. If he shows up with attitude they just cut him…
It’s lowest of risk and highest of reward. Especially if they bring back Bobby to mentor him.
Now, i’d put the odds of him reaching his potential at about 2% and the odds of him even being a capable starter at like 15%, BUT its still a good signing for the cost if they aren’t handing him a starting role.
While a great deal of what you say here is right on target where the Seahawks’ thinking is concerned, I’d only correct the high pedigree/ high ceiling comment.
Yes, that was true when he came out of Michigan and really, after his rookie season in Pittsburgh. His play actually justified the Steelers trading up to draft him in the minds of many
But he is a shadow of himself post ACL tear. I get it, as someone who knows very well about the injury, surgery and rehab. There’s the physical aspect which is tough enough, but the mental rehab is even more daunting, especially for a football player
Simply put, Bush just never did recover or made the conscious decision to play more cautiously, to stay away from potentially big hits, to avoid going full throttle
I can’t fault him there—he’s certainly not alone. It’s the nonchalant, smug reaction to questions that’s just disappointing
I get what you are saying, but if you bring him in and he still is showing sub-4.5 speed in shorts and cutting well and yadda yadda then, physically, that suggests that ceiling is still there.
It’s a question of if he can screw his head on straight enough to utilize his physical traits to their full potential.
And actually get better reading the field and diagnosing plays as they are happening to reduce errors.
I’m not sure he is capable of either. But I’d argue the SEA still see him as a low risk, high ceiling player.
I think mainly it’s that he’s going to a good team is the issue.
if the Titans or someone wanted to take a chance whatever…
but Pete better realize this guy is going to cost them in the run D. 2-3 yard runs are going to turn into 9-10 yards because Devin blindly chases the ball carrier and doesn’t actually know what cover your gap means
I don’t mean to pile on, but there’s a reason why he was beat out by an undrafted free agent and a 6th round developmental rookie
it’s not an attitude issue, it’s like a completely lost guy running around having zero idea what gap to cover or who to pick up in pass coverage.
and lost half his athleticism recovering from ACL injury
I’m getting back to you late on this but I would beg to differ with you about attitude. Maybe it was reserved for the media, but cavalier answers that amounted to, ‘doesn’t matter if I’m here or not, I’ll be in the NFL somewhere’ left me cold. Imagine doing your job poorly and having this reply when you were called on it
Very weird guy as well. He laughed about a cat falling down from the stadium and getting killed. He said on Twitter many weird things that would lead u to believe he is not right and needs mental help. On the field he is just really bad. He gets blocked as easy as anyone u will find. He has no sense of the game. He is not prepared at all and seems confused on what he is supposed to be doing and besides that he seems scared to go hard at someone. He is supposed to be fast he cannot stay with any rb out of the backfield and gets lost on the routes non stop. He was horrible and weird and didn’t seem to care at all. Simply said I’m a first round pick and have a lot of chances still in this league. Yes he might but don’t change the fact he sucks and seems like a mental case
Agree completely. He has the physical attributes and seemingly nothing else.
We’ll see if a change of scenery and a humbling FA experience do him good.
I suspect not, but stranger things have happened.
If I was an NFL GM, I would never sign a guy who routinely just gives up on plays and doesn’t even try. But that’s just me.
Never been the same since the ACL, doesn’t have a motor, misses tackles… just not a producer anymore. Should’ve just re-signed Barton.
Yikes! Did you watch Barton play???? All the things that have been said about Bush above, I would say about Barton, only worse. Bush is not LT, but he is an upgrade over Barton. The Seahawks think so too… otherwise they would have “just re-signed Barton”.
From week 6 on, Barton graded out as one of the best coverage LBs in the NFL. I’m not sure how you can watch him play and still try to argue he doesn’t have a motor. So Barton has at least two things going for him.
If you watched Bush over the last 3 seasons, you would know he has zero things going for him. And he graded out as the worst LB in the entire league in 2021, depending on the source.
Barton has a motor and would make an excellent special teams player. “He has a motor” is what we always say about undersized guys that aren’t athletic and are often out of position. I admittedly have not watched every Steeler’s game that Bush played in, but I have seen every snap of Cody Barton’s career. He tries hard, he just isn’t very good. He only got a one-year deal from Washington, and he wasn’t paid like the “best coverage LB in the NFL”. Devin Bush might not be the answer in Seattle, but I’m glad that we are not running it back with Barton.
I’m not suggesting Barton is the answer or that he’s truly the best coverage LB. All I’m really saying is there’s at least a reasonable expectation of some production from him, while Bush’s track record is one of little production, a lot of boneheaded plays, a serious injury, and a questionable mental state, making Barton at $3.5M a way better value than Bush even if signed for the vet minimum.
Seattle has more info than I do, so who knows–guys figure it out randomly all the time and maybe this is Bush’s year to turn it around. But on paper, he’s a major downgrade with much better LBs on the market that wouldn’t cost a ton. It just seems that if Seattle were serious about upgrading their LB corps that they wouldn’t have signed a guy who has performed badly for 3 straight years and Pitt and their fans couldn’t wait to get out the door. In an ideal world, Seattle wouldn’t have settled for either a below average player or a horrible player.
I have a motor