Steelers have a big decision to make with Devin Bush in the 2022 offseason

The Pittsburgh Steelers will soon need to decide whether or not they will pick up Devin Bush’s fifth-year option. Here are the pros and cons of doing so. 

Since the traumatic loss of Pro Bowl linebacker Ryan Shazier, the Steelers have been searching for a talented, play-making linebacker who could rally this defense and step up to the plate for the Steelers. They thought they were getting that in forme Michigan star, Devin Bush.

After packaging a first and second-round pick to move up to the 10th overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, fans were ecstatic to add another blue-chip defender to Pittsburgh’s arsenal of weapons on defense… or at least we thought.

During his rookie season, Bush looked quite promising — earning 109 tackles, 9 tackles for a loss, 2 interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries, 1 forced fumble, and a defensive touchdown, via Pro Football Reference. Since then, however, things have all gone downhill.

Bush was solid, yet unspectacular to begin his second season in 2020. Unfortunately, an ACL tear early in the year would cause a serious setback. In 2021, Bush has graded out as just the 65th-best off-ball linebacker according to Pro Football Focus this year, and his film has been rather unspectacular — downright bad at times, in fact.

Despite missing most of his second season with the Steelers, Bush will conclude his third year in the NFL in January, and Pittsburgh must decide whether or not to hand the young linebacker the fifth-year option.

Should Steelers give Bush the fifth-year option?

Based on what we have seen out of Devin Bush so far, it’s going to be incredibly hard to justify handing out very good money to him in 2022. Sadly, teams don’t have the luxury to be able to wait and see how they perform in year four; it’s a decision that has to be made following a first-round pick’s third season in the NFL.

Over the Cap projects that it would cost the Steelers $10.5 million to add the fifth-year option onto Bush’s contract. This is no small price to pay. While Pittsburgh could find this money within their budget, that seems like an awful lot for a linebacker who might not even be playing above replacement level at this point in time.

What the Steelers have to gauge is how much they think he will improve in year four (the 2022 season) being one more year removed from injury. I’ve said all season that Bush doesn’t play with the same aggressiveness and exposition that he did in college, and perhaps his knee is playing a factor.

Even if Bush is an improved player next year, $10.5 million would still play him like a top-13 linebacker in the NFL based on yearly salaries.

Even after the improvement of Terrell Edmunds showed last year, the Steelers still didn’t award him with the option this past offseason. However, Pittsburgh has more invested in Bush. It will be interesting to see what they decide next offseason, but so far, he hasn’t been worth a fifth-year option.