The Pittsburgh Steelers may finally have their off-ball linebacker problems solved. For two straight weeks, the pairing of Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen has been spectacular, as they have been at the forefront of some impressive Steelers defensive showings. If this duo keeps it up, their defense could rank up.
But it took a whole lot of wasted draft capital and Devin Bush headaches to get here. And with how Bush has played in Chicago, maybe the Steelers just needed to be patient.
Bush, who signed with the Bears during the offseason, is coming off another notable performance, this time on Sunday Night Football against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bush led all players with nine tackles, two passes defensed, and a spectacular tackle for a loss that showed off his speed and closing ability.
Unfortunately, this is hardly the first time Bush has been praised since leaving the Steelers. In Weeks 5 and 6, the new Bears linebacker was one of the team's top performers, and quite honestly, he's been a big reason for the improvements Chicago has seen on defense this year.
Before joining the Bears, Bush had two quietly great seasons with the Cleveland Browns. In 2024, Bush was the NFL's 9th-highest-graded linebacker, according to Pro Football Focus. He finished 4th among all linebackers last year with an 87.6 overall grade.
The Steelers finally seem to have things in order now, but Bush's performance is a painful reminder of how much it cost to get here.
The Pittsburgh Steelers keep getting reminded of all of their Devin Bush mistakes
At risk of stating the obvious, the Pittsburgh Steelers should have never traded up inside the top-10 for Bush. In the 2019 NFL Draft, former general manager Kevin Colbert surrendered a 2019 first-round pick (No. 20 overall), a 2019 second-round pick (No. 52 overall), and a 2020 third-round pick to move up to No. 10 to select Bush.
This proved to be a colossal mistake.
Moving up this high for an off-ball linebacker should almost never happen, and it didn't help that Bush proved to be disappointing. Though he had an ACL injury early in his Steelers career, he never came close to living up to his billing.
At the same time, maybe the Steelers just needed a change at defensive coordinator and a bit more time to unlock Bush.
Over the past three seasons, Bush has been a steal for the Browns and the Bears, who have found respectable linebacker play at a discounted price. But not only did Bush hurt the Steelers during the 2019 and 2020 NFL Drafts, but he also caused a ripple that trickles into today.
After failing on Bush and ultimately turning the page on their costly first-round pick, the Steelers overpaid to secure Patrick Queen during the 2024 free agency period. Queen's three-year, $41 million deal made him one of the highest-paid linebackers in the NFL.
But up until just recently, Queen has mostly been a liability on the Steelers. In fact, Bush had outperformed Queen for most of the past three seasons... and at a fraction of the price.
Thankfully, the Steelers' defense is playing well, and the combination of Queen and Payton Wilson seems to be working. This is all water under the bridge, but if Bush had only started playing this well while he was on the Steelers—or if Colbert didn't trade up for him in the first place—Pittsburgh likely wouldn't have needed to set fire to so much money and resources trying to fix the linebacker position.
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