Pittsburgh Steelers 53-man roster prediction, depth chart after NFL Draft

Linebacker: Devin Bush, Robert Spillane, Vince Williams, Buddy Johnson, Marcus Allen, Ulysees Gilbert

Since Ryan Shazier suffered a career-ending spinal injury, the Steelers have made a conscious effort to improve the linebacker position. Unfortunately, Devin Bush going down with a torn ACL in Week 6 didn’t help. Now Pittsburgh will get their 22-year-old linebacker and former first-round pick back as a starter. Behind him, most of the depth looks the same.

Vince Williams was cut this offseason to save cap space but later resigned with the team. He will likely get early-down work in Pittsburgh’s base defense with Robert Spillane likely to take a majority of the snaps in nickel.

Behind them, I would have to assume that Buddy Johnson makes the team, as he was a fourth-round draft selection this year. Johnson’s tape is hit or miss, and it sometimes looks like he takes plays off. Still, he’s a terrific athlete, and that will at least help him make it on special teams to start with. I also have the Steelers keeping both Marcus Allen and Ulysees Gilbert this year. We saw how their linebacking core was decimated with injuries last year, and they may want to keep a bit more depth around.