Devin Bush ‘Fired up’ for Revenge Game against Steelers

PITTSBURGH — The Steelers will head to Seattle, where former first-round pick Devin Bush has played with the Seahawks all year but has not started a game yet. But with Jordyn Brooks banged up with an ankle injury, Bush is in line for his first start as a Seahawk, and it comes against the team that drafted him.

It’s a classic revenge game storyline. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is leaning into that message with Bush, who he hopes can use that to step up in a massive spot for the Seahawks. With that, Carroll is giving him all the encouragement he needs to help stun his former team.

“He has a great chance to play a lot this week, and I know he’ll be fired up for that,” Carroll said. “There’s always something to that. Last week, Mario Edwards had a chance to go back against his old club. And there’s something to that that just kind of juices guys up. And I totally respect that, and I’m honoring it because it’s meaningful. It means something.”

Bush replaced Brooks in game, but his first significant action next to Bobby Wagner will happen against his former team in a must-win game if Brooks can not go. It becomes even more interesting when Bush appeared to take a shot at the Steelers after losing to the Indianapolis Colts.

Bush, 24, was the Steelers’ first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft when the team traded up with the Denver Broncos to select him out of Michigan with the No. 10 overall selection. He never lived up to the billing of that draft pick in four seasons in Pittsburgh. Bush started 15 games in a promising rookie season in 2019, but he never recovered his form after an ACL injury caused him to miss most of the 2020 season. Tight end Pat Freiermuth is looking forward to going up against him.

“Yeah, D Bush is a great guy and I’m excited to see him and compete against him,” Freiermuth said. “The stakes are high in a game like this, and to have the competitive feel with a guy like that, it’s going to be a great time out there.”

At training camp, Bush seemed to be okay with it being his last year in Pittsburgh. He never sweated the idea of being in a contract year, instead opting to look for the fact that teams would still be interested in a player of his pedigree. As such, Devin Bush ripped into any clue that there could be a concern, citing the business side of the game.

“It’s the business,” Bush said. “I mean, I’m gonna still be in the NFL. So, we’ll see.”

But now, that has a chance to come back around. Bush can show his former team what they missed, and could bury their playoff hopes with it in a must-win game for both teams.