Devin Bush was drafted tenth overall to be the future star and central pillar of the Steelers defense for years to come. Coming into week four, Bush had the seventh most tackles in the NFL and three recovered fumbles.
But his performance during the Steelers 27-3 victory over the Bengals was his best yet, and flashed why the Steelers traded up to get him. Let's look at the different ways he succeeded:
Bush finished his first Monday night football appearance with nine tackles, three for loss, a sack and a pass defended. At the middle of the defense, inside linebackers are supposed to find the ball carrier more than most. However none of his tackles before the game against the Bengals were tackles for loss.
That changed Monday night. He now leads the Steelers with 37 tackles on the season with multiple coming behind or at the line of scrimmage. Watch how he converges on Joe Mixon with Mark Barron. Ola Adeniyi does a good job disrupting the run, but Bush and Barron jump through their gaps to clamp down on Mixon, giving him nowhere to go:
One of the early challenges for young inside linebackers is showing poise to not over-pursue their assignment and outrun their gap. Ryan Shazier struggled with that mightily in his early years. Bush displays a more fundamental approach, flashing footwork to maintain position while also closing down space.
Watch how he approaches his gap on this tackle of Mixon. As the Bengals' offensive line reaches left and crashes down the Steelers' line, Bush approaches and holds his spot by maintaining a wide-spread defensive stance while approaching aggressively into the gap:
Those are strong football instincts — not selling out and flying into gaps with abandon, and staying home to make the play. Those instincts were a big part of what made Bush such an exciting prospect in the draft.
He's shown them against the pass, too, sniffing out screens that normally catch the Steelers unaware. Watch how he patiently plays the screen, not giving up his spot in the middle of the field but bursting past the blockers as soon as the ball is in the air. He works around the linemen and takes Mixon out before he can get going:
Bush was primarily brought in to help against the pass. That's where they need him to find his comfort zone more than anything else. Sometimes it's just a matter of knowing how far to drop back into a zone, how to approach different routes, or how to work against larger tight ends.
Bush was targeted by Andy Dalton five times giving up four completions, but only for 24 yards and two first downs and a pass defended. Let's look at that one incomplete pass he forced by knocking the ball away from Tyler Eifert. Eifert is 6-foot-6, 255 lbs., while Bush is 5-foot-11, 234 lbs.
When Eifert tries to post-up Bush on the pass, he boxes him out like a power forward would a shooting guard in basketball. But Bush negates it by not giving up any ground as he's boxed out, then jumping over Eifert to attack the ball, knocking it away:
Bush is an athletic freak with the instincts of a starter already. He just outworked a guy with a seven inch, 21-pound advantage on that play, something I'm sure the Bengals thought they could exploit. After all, it was the first incomplete pass all season when Bush was targeted while guarding a tight end.
Through four games, Bush has been targeted 19 times, allowed 15 completions for 119 yards, seven first downs and two touchdowns. Most of those yards and touchdowns came against tight ends like Seattle's Will Dissly, but it looks like he's learning how to win better in those situations.
As he continues to grow, he could create more advantages that wipe out mismatches that have tortured the Steelers over the middle for years.
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