With my last article and other reports in the media, it appears that Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Devin Bush is looking to make a full recovery from his ACL injury last year. As mentioned in other pieces written for SteelerNation.com, Bush is looking to be a part of all the defensive snaps for the Steelers this upcoming season.
With that being said; is he going to perform up to standard?
Possibly, but there's a few things he has to accomplish in order for this upcoming season to be successful for one of the best players on the Steelers defensive side of the ball.
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Obviously, the number one aspect to determine success for Bush would be to stay healthy all year, that's quite obvious. However, with the upcoming 17-game schedule, this is easier said than done. With limited amount of time in the offseason to condition due to injury rehab, the former Michigan Wolverine star has to work even harder to be conditioned enough to stay on the field the whole season. He is definitely at a disadvantage to other players who did not have to rehab and were able to go straight into the summer months and strictly train for the upcoming season. One example would be fellow defensive player T.J. Watt who might have spent his offseason upset over not winning the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, he still was healthy enough to focus on training during the offseason.
Despite health being a major factor with Bush, performance is the other extremely important factor for this upcoming season. I know, what a hot take, performance on the field is really important. Just give me a second to explain. Bush needs to be the leader of the middle of the field, along with Minkah Fitzpatrick, as the pass-rush of the defensive line and outside linebackers is handled more to generate pressure on the opposing quarterback. The Steelers have a long history of dominant interior linebackers and Bush needs to prove that he can be a staple in the middle of the field in order to justify his desire to play all of the team's defensive snaps. The Steelers offense is a major question mark going into next season and that offense will need to have a solid defense to put them in a better position to win.
In response to a reporter, Bush went out of his way to say that he was confident in covering some the AFC North's top receivers, specifically Cleveland Browns' wide receiver Jarvis Landry. When asked whether he was as healthy as he wanted to be and playing as well as he wanted to, could he cover Jarvis Landry in the slot, his response was simple, "Yes, 100 percent."
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In order to get to the point where he can be fully back to where he was athletically as a rookie, Bush needs to progress much faster. A few months out from the start of the season, hopefully the young star can get back to full health.
In my opinion, I expect him to have to play himself into shape either during preseason (if they allow him to play) or the first game or two. By the Week 7 bye in October, hopefully Bush will be able to recover even more before the rest of the season.
This next season is going to be interesting, especially for Bush, comment down below on how well you think he will do! Will he lead the team in tackles? What about interceptions? Comment below!
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