LATROBE, Pa. -- Back in his day, Jerry Olsavsky was considered a smart but undersized inside linebacker during his 10-year NFL career.
That's why he's unfazed by the shift in the NFL to smaller, faster run-and-cover linebackers such as Steelers first-round draft pick Devin Bush. For the Steelers' inside linebackers coach, it's not about the size of the dog, it's about the size of the fight in the dog that matters.
"You either know you can hold up against bigger guys or you can’t," Olsavsky said Tuesday as the Steelers worked on Day 10 of their training camp here at Saint Vincent College. "If you know you can do it, it’s no problem. I don’t care if it’s 300, 280, you’re going to go hit the guy and play football. We’ve got to work on some technique and things like that, but the size really doesn’t come into it.
"It didn’t come into it for me. People would say, ‘You’re too small.’ How do you know how I feel on the field? Did I ever feel too small on the field? No. That’s the thing. Some people feel too small. You put a defensive back up there, they might say, ‘Woh, that’s a little different.’ Yeah, it is a little different. So if you feel too small, then yeah, you’re too small. But if you don’t feel too small, it’s better because they’re slower."
Lack of speed isn't an issue for Bush, who ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine earlier this year. That's a time most defensive backs would be proud to own. But Bush is a 5-foot-11, 234-pound inside linebacker.
That's what interested the Steelers in moving up to acquire the hard-hitting former Michigan star.
They weren't so much concerned with what some felt he couldn't do on the football field because of his lack of ideal size. They were more enamored with all of the things he can do on it despite his lack of ideal size.
He's great in coverage, though he's still learning the nuances of playing man-to-man against NFL opposition. He's a sturdy tackler. And he's taken to the Steelers' defense like he's known it all of his life.
"He’s got really good instincts. That’s probably his biggest asset," defensive coordinator Keith Butler told me. "He still needs to see some things. He’ll get it once he gets the reps at it. The thing about the NFL is that it’s a little bit more complex with what offenses do and what we’re doing. It’s a faster game. Your processing of what’s going on out there has to be a lot quicker than it was in college. His speed, he’s not going to get any faster or any quicker, but his processing speed can get faster, can get quicker with the more reps he gets."
The Steelers have worked Bush hard throughout the offseason and training camp, force feeding him the defense. They made him call the defense in the huddle from Day 1 at rookie OTAs and that's continued throughout the process. That will continue into the preseason, which begins Friday when the Steelers host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Coincidentally, it was the Buccaneers who selected Devin White of LSU with the fifth pick in this year's draft, which might have forced the Steelers to feel the need to trade up to the 10th pick to select Bush. They didn't want to be shut out of acquiring a top talent at inside linebacker for a second year in a row, so they swapped first-round picks with Denver, sending the Broncos the 20th pick along with a second-round selection this year and a third-rounder in 2020 to move up for Bush.
White, at 6-foot, is slightly bigger, and a tick faster, but the Steelers had a slightly higher grade on Bush. Friday night, they'll get to be on opposite sidelines for their first pro action, even if it is a preseason game.
Either way, the Steelers feel they got the right Devin.
"Devin (Bush) is a competitor and he knows who’s playing. You’re a competitor. You want to be the best when you’re out there on the field at your position," Olsavsky said. "The fact they both came out and were the top picks will add a little bit more. They are high-level competitors."
And they both know they'll be compared to each other for years to come. So they might as well get that started Friday night -- depending on how much each play.
Given how the Steelers have handled things with T.J. Watt in 2017 and Terrell Edmunds in 2018, you can expect that to be a lot. Watt played 900 snaps as a rookie, including special teams play, while Edmunds was over 1,100 last season, including playing the most defensive snaps of any rookie in the league.
Can Bush handle a similar workload?
"Oh yeah. That’s what he’s used to," Olsavsky told me. "He played a lot at Michigan. He’s young and he loves it. His dad played. He’s just a little kid living the dream out here. It’s really good."
