CLEVELAND, Ohio — We’re not all that far removed from Browns linebacker Devin Bush, then with the Steelers, finishing third in defensive rookie of the year voting, just behind Nick Bosa and Maxx Crosby.
Bush was doing what was promised after his career at the University of Michigan and a 2020 NFL combine performance that saw him run a 4.43 40-yard dash and register a 40.5-inch vertical.
“Man, that guy was 21 years old, just running around just hitting everything that had a ball in his hand,” Bush recalled about his rookie season in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers traded up to select Bush No. 10 overall, giving Denver picks 20 and 52 as well as a third-round pick, to take the Butkus Award winner from the Wolverines, still searching for a replacement for Ryan Shazier, who had suffered a career-ending spine injury in 2017.
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The pick appeared on its way to paying big dividends after a rookie year in which Bush collected 109 tackles, nine tackles for loss, forced a fumble and recovered four — including one returned for a touchdown — and intercepted two passes.
Bush was ready to break out in Year 2. He became the Steelers’ defensive play caller and played every defensive snap until he tried to make a tackle against the Browns in Week 5, diving after running back D’Ernest Johnson and then grabbing at his left knee after he landed following the play.
He underwent surgery for a torn ACL, the first major injury of his football life. It quickly derailed the promising start to his career and it’s why Bush is in Cleveland now, working on a one-year deal for the second season in a row and, on the verge of turning 26 in a few weeks, doing whatever he can to stay in the league.
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Mental warfare
Like many players left to rehab major injuries during the season, it was easy for Bush to feel detached after he tore his ACL.
“I personally felt like I wasn’t on the team,” he said. “The team was traveling and practicing and doing what they do during the year; I’m at home. They’re saying, ‘Hey yo, you got four more weeks with the crutches. Hey, slow down. You can’t run yet. You can’t squat yet.’”
He called the whole process “mental warfare.”
“I’m so used to just getting out there and just flying around,” he said, “and having to take the slow route definitely taught me a lot of being present.”
He returned Week 1 of the following season, but he was never quite the player he was his rookie year. He recorded 151 tackles and just four for loss in 2021 and 2022 combined. A player known for his ability to make splash plays, he forced just one fumble and didn’t intercept a pass in those two seasons.
Just like that, he went from potentially becoming the next great Steelers linebacker to Pittsburgh declining the fifth-year option on his rookie deal.
It didn’t go the way he or the Steelers had planned, but Bush has managed to find some perspective.
“Honestly, when you’re actually in it, you are like, ‘Man, what’s going on?’” he said. “But after you’re removed and you’re outside of it, honestly, that’s probably the best thing that could happen to me.”
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Changing perspective
Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The best thing would have been building on his rookie season and eventually signing a lucrative extension. That wasn’t in the cards for Bush, so once his time in Pittsburgh ended, it was about resetting.
He signed a one-year deal with Seattle in 2023 and he described what he was doing there in one word: Learning.
Shortly after the Seahawks added Bush, they brought back one of the legends from their “Legion of Boom” defenses, Bobby Wagner.
It was an opportunity for a young linebacker. He was around All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner and other veterans like safeties Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams, quarterback Geno Smith and receivers DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.
“I got to learn from a lot of guys that you can say are where I want to be and where I want to head towards,” Bush said.
Learning is something Bush has embraced since the ACL injury changed his career. He’s come to appreciate playing for coaches like Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh and Pete Carroll in Seattle.
“I’m just taking all the information I can get. I’m just taking all the people that I’m working with and learning from and I’m just running with it,” Bush said. “And you never know when your number’s getting called or when your time is to come.”
Bush had to change his perspective from those early days in a Steelers uniform when he appeared destined for stardom. He quickly went from Top 10 pick to figuring out where he would fit in on Seattle’s defense.
“OK, I’m not going to take a job from Bobby Wagner, that’s not happening,” Bush said. “Having to really accept that and having to work around that and just trying to find my place in it was the hardest part.”
Where he fit was, in part, special teams. During the Seahawks’ first preseason game, Bush covered a kickoff for the first time in his NFL career.
Overall, he played 138 special teams snaps in 2023, only three fewer than his final three seasons in Pittsburgh combined. He played a higher percentage of special teams snaps (38%) than defensive snaps (27%); and he played fewer defensive snaps than in any other year of his career, including the season he lost to his ACL tear.
Bush wasn’t thrilled he wasn’t playing as much.
“I’m a competitor,” he said.
But instead of complaining, he took the opportunity to learn and grow. He’s learned to take a big-picture perspective.
“I think I’m way more appreciative,” he said. “Not saying I was taking it for granted before, but just as you get older and things that you go through, you just realize that each year that you’re in the league is one step closer to retirement. So just enjoying all the moments, just run down on kickoff and just being able to walk out of this game one day and saying, ‘Yeah, I ran down on kickoff.’ ”
Back in the AFC North
Bush has always been an AFC North guy. His dad, Devin Bush Sr., who finished his NFL career with two seasons in Cleveland in 2001 and 2002, played in the division the first year of its existence.
So he’s happy to be back after a season out west.
“The AFC North, it’s football,” he said. “NFC West was fantasy and West Coast-style and five wide. In here you’re going to get 13 (personnel, meaning 1 running back with 3 tight ends) and 12 and big dudes, extra O-linemen and stuff. So I mean that’s the football I grew up playing, watching. So I just love it.”
His familiarity with the division is part of what drew him to Cleveland, as well as what he saw defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz do with the defense in 2023.
“This is a place where linebackers get used, get better or whatever you want to call it,” he said. “A linebacker is a big thing in this defense.”
He loves the read-and-react style Schwartz has his linebackers play behind a defensive line built to cause chaos. And you can see how the 5-foot-11, 235-pound Bush, who was drafted for his ability to play fast and make splash plays, might fit in here.
“It’s a lot faster pace because you’re allowed to react fast,” Bush said. “You don’t have to slow down all the time.”
He knows things are different now and nothing is guaranteed. The Browns have two of their linebacker spots set with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and veteran free agent addition Jordan Hicks. Bush will compete with players like Tony Fields II, rookie Nathaniel Watson and Mohamoud Diabate for a turn in the rotation.
Part of the determination will be who can thrive in the league’s new kickoff format, which lines up the coverage and receiving team across from each other, putting an emphasis on shooting gaps and getting off blocks.
It has been a long time since anything was guaranteed for Bush, since he was an ascending star for one of the league’s marquee franchises. He believes he can get back to the player he was then, but for now, he’s just happy to still be part of a team.
“I’ve got a locker in the locker room,” he said, “so I’m good.”
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