Devin Bush

In 2025, Bush led his 2019 draft classmate Devin White in PDs (8 vs 3) — despite being picked 5 spots lower.

White and Bush were the two pure ILBs taken in the 2019 first round. White was the higher pick and spent his first six seasons winning a Super Bowl in Tampa before bouncing to Houston and Las Vegas.

2025 is the year Bush flipped the coverage script: White posted 169 tackles (46 more), but Bush had 8 PDs to White's 3 — more than 2.6x the pass-defense production. For a 10th-overall pick whose career nearly derailed after a 2020 ACL tear, finishing ahead of his higher-drafted classmate in coverage impact is one of the quieter reversals in the 2025 LB landscape.

Why it matters. Both players were first-round picks at the same position in the same class, making the year-7 PD gap a direct apples-to-apples comparison of coverage development — not just raw volume.

Only 6 LBs in the NFL had 100+ tackles AND 8+ pass defenses in 2025 — Bush is one of them.

Combining 100+ tackles (run-defense workload) with 8+ PDs (coverage impact) is rare: only 6 LBs did it in 2025. Bush is the only one on the list coming off a near-career-ending ACL tear and two post-surgery seasons under 80 combined tackles.

For context, Bush's previous single-season PD high was 4 (2019 and 2021). His 2025 total of 8 doubles that mark — and it came alongside a career-high in tackles (123).

Why it matters. The 100-tackle threshold flags a true every-down MIKE; the 8+ PD filter identifies LBs actually affecting passing plays rather than just piling up run-defense numbers. Appearing on both lists simultaneously is the hardest dual qualification for an inside linebacker.

8 PDs in 2025 — career high, and triple his 2024 total.

8 pass defenses in 2025 doubles Bush's prior career-best (4) and is 2.7x his 2024 total (3). For a MIKE-style ILB, that's the kind of number that points to growth in zone coverage reads, not just snap volume.

In his Pittsburgh years (2019-2022) he was a heavy-box LB used mostly in run support. Cleveland's defensive scheme uses him more in coverage — and the rebuild is showing up on the stat sheet.

Why it matters. PDs for a run-down ILB measure genuine scheme evolution — they require the linebacker to be deployed in coverage zones rather than the box, which is a schematic decision that affects the entire defense's identity.

Bush's 2025 ball-impact total (11) is a career high — the first season he's eclipsed his 2019 rookie benchmark (9).

Ball-impact (pass defenses + forced fumbles + fumble recoveries) measures every play where a linebacker directly contests a possession or negates a gain. Bush's 2019 rookie year (9) held as his career benchmark for six seasons.

After three consecutive seasons at 3 or fewer (2022-2024), 2025's total of 11 is the highest mark of his career. The composition shifted: 2019 was driven by 4 fumble recoveries (partly luck-dependent); 2025 is built on 8 PDs — a harder, more scheme-intentional outcome.

Among LBs with 100+ tackles in 2025, Bush's ball-impact of 11 ranks 4th.

Why it matters. Ball-impact separates volume tacklers from play-disrupting linebackers; exceeding a rookie ball-impact number seven years later — post-ACL, on a third team — is the clearest evidence that 2025 reflects real growth, not just a volume year.

183 combined tackles across 2024-25: Bush's most productive 2-year stretch — better than any Pittsburgh window.

Every two-year window in Bush's career is below his Cleveland stint — including the 2019-20 span that contained his pre-ACL rookie season. The 2024-25 window produced 183 combined tackles and 11 PDs, both career-high marks for any two-year period.

The trajectory inverts the usual post-ACL recovery arc: most players who tear their ACL at 21 show their best production in the first two or three seasons post-surgery, then tail off. Bush's curve ran opposite — three straight years of decline after the tear, then two straight years of escalation into his age-26 and age-27 seasons.

Why it matters. Two-year windows normalize single-season volatility; Bush's career-best production appearing in years 6-7 rather than years 1-3 is the data fingerprint of a genuine late breakthrough rather than a one-year outlier.

No Pittsburgh season gave Bush 100+ tackles AND 4+ PDs simultaneously. Cleveland 2025 gave him both, plus 2 FFs.

The constraint in Pittsburgh wasn't effort — it was scope. Bush's best tackle seasons (2019: 89, 2022: 74) came with low PD counts; his years with higher PDs had lower tackle numbers. The scheme used him as a box specialist: fill gaps, rack up solo stops, limit coverage snaps.

Cleveland 2025 removed the ceiling: 123 tackles (career high) and 8 PDs (career high) and 2 FFs in the same season. No Pittsburgh year produced all three above their career averages simultaneously. For a 10th-overall pick, 2025 is the first season that looks like the full player the Steelers thought they were drafting.

Why it matters. Splitting by era reveals whether a player's ceiling is schematic or physical — Bush's Pittsburgh numbers were never bad, but the combination floor Cleveland is demanding shows the scheme was the limiting factor.