4 reasons Steelers unwise to bet on backups to replace Devin Bush

Ulysees Gilbert

Ulysees Gilbert is hard to figure out. Entering the draft, he had similar athletic traits to Bush, meaning that on paper, he appears to be the most logical in-house fit to replace him. Even better, last year during the preseason he played extremely well, and he continued that solid play on special teams before an injury ended his rookie year. With all of this backing him up, why wouldn’t Gilbert be the “next man up?”

Well, the Steelers don’t seem as high on Gilbert as the fans do since he was stuck on the bench for most of the year so far. He has only been active for one game, but he only saw special teams’ stats then. Perhaps they saw some issues with him in training camp or it could be due to a large amount of talent on special teams that have caused him to not see the field. This isn’t to say he couldn’t fill in, but he is as unproven as they come.

Given the Steelers’ decision to keep him on the bench early on, it seems unlikely he suddenly makes the move to starting linebacker. That said, out of all of the in-house options, Gilbert seems like the player that makes the most sense to replace Bush. For now, he will almost certainly see a hat on game day now and may see some defense snaps down the road. He is unproven though, making him a risk to step in as a starter on the defense.