A year ago at this time, the Steelers were still limiting the snaps of inside linebacker Devin Bush as he returned from a torn ACL injury suffered five games into the 2020 season.
And Bush now admits, it took him some time to not only feel comfortable on the field in 2021.
His play showed that as the 2019 first-round draft pick of the Steelers struggled mightily in his return from the injury last season. He looked tentative. He looked slower. He looked like he had lost confidence.
That was largely because he had.
"At times," Bush said Wednesday at the Steelers' OTA sessions here at the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex when I asked him if his confidence took at hit in 2021. "Early on, at times. I wasn’t happy with my play, of course. I wasn’t happy with losing. I went through some things personally. I feel like it was all a learning process."
And it's a process from which he feels like he'll come out of the other side better for in the long run.
The Steelers traded multiple picks to move up from 20 to 10 in the 2019 NFL Draft to select Bush. And in his first 21 games, it looked like that move might have been well founded.
He had 135 tackles, two interceptions, nine tackles for a loss, two sacks and seven pass defenses in his first 21 career games. And then he was injured at the end of the first half of a win over the Browns at Heinz Field while tackling Kareem Hunt along the sideline.
"Before I got hurt, I was doing good," Bush said. "I think I was on the way to being a Pro Bowl/All-Pro player. You’re going to see some things. I went through a lot. It was supposed to happen to me. I’m grateful I’m able to go out there again."
The question now, however, is where he'll be at in 2023. The Steelers declined to pick up the fifth-year option on Bush this offseason. That would have paid Bush $10.9 million fully guaranteed next season. Instead, he'll play out this season on his $3.06-million base salary and a $6 million salary cap hit and then perhaps head into free agency.
"Me and my agent talked about it. We felt like the team made a decision it needed to make," Bush said of the team's declining of his option. "We’ve got to make decisions we’ve got to make to be able to move on. It wasn’t nothing where I was pissed off. It’s business. That’s how I look at it."
He understands the Steelers just couldn't pay him that kind of money coming off the season he had in 2021.
But he also knows that, at 24, he has time to change the perceptions.
"I don’t think I’ve got anything to prove. I’m a first-rounder, a top-10 pick. That’s never going to change," Bush said. "I don’t think I have to prove anything to anybody. I’ve just got to go out there and play football. I think my mentality is going out there and being a football player again."
A healthy knee in which he is confident would go a long way toward Bush playing better in 2022.
As Bush admitted, he didn't have that confidence for an extended period last season. But after working out all this offseason, he feels he's regained the trust needed in his body.
"After the season, I got a chance to go home (to Florida)," he said. "I spent two months at home and I was able to go out on the field and put my cleats on whenever I felt like it. Last year at this time, I wasn’t on the field as much. They were managing my reps. They were holding me back for precaution. After the season, I got a chance to get out — I was running miles on the beach. I was cutting, jumping, playing around.
"My knee wasn’t an issue. I was able to do that and just get my confidence back in myself, in my knee. That was a big part of my rehab."
The Steelers added Myles Jack next to Bush this offseason in free agency and also brought in former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores as their senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach.
While those moves weren't made with the sole thought of getting the best out of Bush, they won't hurt, either.
"Myles is a playmaker," Bush said of the former Jaguars star. "When you say Myles Jack, I think playmaker. He’s rangy. He played running back in college. That says a lot about his ability.
"I think he’s an every down linebacker, too. So he adds versatility. We complement each other well in that aspect."
And Flores is going to ask a lot out of that duo, as well.
"I think he’s a big, big addition to the Steelers. Having him in the room is outstanding," Bush said. "He’s a guy who is football-minded. He loves the game. You can have any type of discussion with him. You can talk about football and life. I think he’s a really good addition for us."
But perhaps the biggest addition to the Steelers defense would be Bush living up to his lofty draft status. Bush was the highest-drafted player of the Kevin Colbert era as Steelers GM after the move up to acquire him.
The injury wrecked a promising start. But it doesn't mean he still can't recover and have a strong career.
"I feel good. I feel a complete difference," Bush said. "This time last year, I was in OTAs and they were managing my leg and stuff like that. Now, I go out there as soon as they blow the whistle. I’m feeling confident. I’m going out there, knowing the expectations and I just want to go out there with a whole new mindset and just play football.
"I get a chance to play football again how I want to. I get a chance to go out there and be myself. I feel like I’m starting a whole new slate. I’m feeling pretty good about it."