The Steelers spent the better part of two years searching for a replacement for Ryan Shazier after the star linebacker suffered a career-ending injury near the end of the 2017 season.
After striking out at acquiring a replacement in the 2018 draft, they settled for Jon Bostic at the spot that season in a move that didn't work. Then, to make sure they didn't miss out again in 2019, they traded a bevy of picks to move up in the first round to get Devin Bush.
Bush made some plays in his first season, but was still a work in progress. And as he began his second season in 2020, it looked like he was well on his way to becoming a force, recording 26 tackles, a sack, three pass defenses and a pair of quarterback hits in the team's first 4 1/2 games before tearing his ACL just before halftime in a rout of the Browns.
With Bush out for the remainder of the season, the Steelers were back to piecing things together at inside linebacker. And the result once again made them too predictable. They traded for the Jets' Avery Williamson, but the majority of the time, the inside linebacker pairing was Vince Williams and Robert Spillane, until late in the season when Spillane was out, as well. At that point, they were rotating Williamson and converted safety Marcus Allen in an attempt to more coverage ability from their off-ball linebackers.
Today's NFL, with its movement to more passing concepts, has made the pure run-stuffing inside linebacker nearly obsolete. And without Bush, the Steelers just didn't have a linebacker capable of the coverage duties required in today's NFL. You can get away with one one stuffer on the field if he's paired with a coverage linebacker. But you can't get away with two run stuffers out there.
Bush will be back in 2021 and should continue his upward trajectory, and the Steelers return the same group of players back with the exception of Williamson being replaced by free agent acquisition Miles Killebrew, another converted safety who spent the first five years of his career with the Lions.
Is that enough to hold down the position? Perhaps. But the Steelers could dip into what is one of the more talented position groups in this year's NFL Draft, which begins Thursday, to improve their depth and perhaps get another speedy linebacker to pair with Bush.
There are a number of off-ball linebackers who could be first-round options, including Penn State's Micah Parsons, Notre Dame's Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Tulsa's Zaven Collins and Jamin Davis of Kentucky.
To show that they come in all shapes and sizes, Owusu-Koramoah is 6-foot-1, 224 pounds, while Collins is 6-foot-4, 259 pounds, though he weighed in at a reported 270 pounds at the NFL's medical re-check recently.
"You've got Owusu-Koramoah from Notre Dame who's going to be a fascinating player who played like 210, 215 pounds, but just runs all over the place, makes all kinds of plays. You can deploy him in a lot of different ways, almost function as a strong safety, you can use him as a nickel linebacker," said NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah. "You've got Zaven Collins from Tulsa who one buddy that I talked to in the league when I first watched him, he was like, What do you think? I said, 'Man, I really like him. It's hard big guys like that. He reminds me a little bit of (Leighton) Vander Esch coming out of Boise State,' and this is an older scout. He said, 'Man, I saw some similarities to Brian Urlacher when he was coming out of New Mexico.'"
That's high praise for two of the top inside backers in this draft.
But the position hardly stops there. With college defenses having to defend spread offenses, they've adjusted who they put where to get better in coverage. Bigger safeties now get moved to linebacker, which creates more linebackers who can run and cover. And this draft is littered with them.
On the second day of the draft, Missouri's Nick Bolton, Jabril Cox of LSU -- who might be the best coverage linebacker beyond Owusu-Koramoah -- the Ohio State duo of Baron Browning and Pete Werner and North Carolina's Chazz Surratt should be picked.
Surratt is a former starting quarterback for the Tar Heels who converted to linebacker, a move that isn't often seen.
"All those guys are modern-day linebackers to deal with these tight ends and athletic backs out of the backfield," Jeremiah said. "That to me is a really, really good group of off-the-ball guys."
Beyond that group, there are some clear Day 3 picks who have value, as well.
Purdue's Derrick Barnes lined up at outside linebacker for the Boilermakers in 2019, collecting seven sacks, then moved inside in 2020 and had 54 tackles and an interception in six games before running a 4.57-second 40-yard dash at his pro day.
There's some Lawrence Timmons-like flexibility there with him.
Georgia's Monty Rice matched that 40 time and was a three-year starter for the Bulldogs, serving as a team captain in 2020. Michigan's Cameron McGrone was essentially Bush's replacement the past two years for the Wolverines, while others such as Alabama's Dylan Moses, Texas A&M's Buddy Johnson, Tony Fields of West Virginia, Garrett Wallow of TCU and Nick Niemann of Iowa are all speedy linebackers who can cover and stop the run.
Lolley's Linebacker Rankings
1. Micah Parsons, Penn State
2. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Notre Dame
3. Zaven Collins, Tulsa
4. Jamin Davis, Kentucky
5. Nick Bolton, Missouri
6. Jabril Cox, LSU
7. Baron Browning, Ohio State
8. Pete Werner, Ohio State
9. Chazz Surratt, North Carolina
10. Derrick Barnes, Purdue