LB Devin Bush (6.5.24)
You come into this opportunity, what’s kind of your view of this opportunity you have here and the way maybe you can kind of reset and recalibrate, you know, your career trajectory?
“I think any opportunity is opportunity, just being on this team and to be able to come out of practice, you know, I have the opportunity to play. So, I mean, I just go out every day and just cherish that and just go out there and just go as hard as I can and just learn as fast as I can.”
What have your first impressions been of some of the other linebackers? Because you’re not the only new guy this year, there’s a bunch of new guys.
“Man, we got a crazy room. I mean, we still learn each other still early, but we don’t have a lot of time spent together. But as of right now, we got a lot of characters and we got a great room, a good mix of veterans, a good mix of young guys. So it’s going to be a lot of learning, a lot of teaching in that room.”
In what ways – obviously, you have that rookie year and the numbers are looking good, and then the injury happened. How much more has that set you back than maybe you thought initially?
“I think it was a growth and development thing for me. I mean, that was just a route, I guess my career was supposed to take. I learned a lot about myself. I worked on myself a bunch, and my mindset has definitely shifted. I had the opportunity to have different perspectives, not being able to play the game at one point, and I think it’s just a work in progress, honestly, like nothing’s ever set in stone, you know, until the day I retire. So, I mean, I still got a lot of football left in me. I’m still 25, so we’ll see.”
Mo Hurst came here last year and kind of had this great year before he got hurt again, and he had been plagued by injuries before this, like, seeing what he did in this defense, one of your old teammates, like, does that give you some excitement or some confidence? And what has it been like for you to watch?
“I mean, just being around Mo again, I’m familiar and I’m comfortable. I have a guy I can lean on, somebody that understands who I am, and I don’t have to re-learn so, I mean having that guy is tremendous. You know, playing behind him again is going to be great. So I mean we just working every day honestly.”
What is Jim Schwartz’s defense? Just what’s that been like? We hear obviously a lot about what it does for the defensive line. We hear a lot about what it does for the secondary. What for you guys and you know, that middle group, what does it do for you guys?
“I mean we just running and cleaning stuff up. I mean it allows us to play fast, you know, because I mean we got to keep a strong D-line in his system. So we playing behind a bunch of good D-linemen. We got a bunch of good DBs. So I mean it just gives a chance to just fly around and make plays. Honestly.”
Jim Schwartz describes that line as the front line, as the engine of the defense. What would you describe your group and your unit as?
“Man, we the brain, we got to communicate to everybody. We got to talk to the front and be able to look behind us and talk to the back end. And we in the center of everything and every play we involve run our pass. So I mean we involved in everything. Communication got to be on point and we got to just be able to look at it.”
You obviously have a background and understanding of the AFC North and the rivalries here. Just like how excited are you? I mean this just seems like the last few years especially it’s maybe the most competitive division in the NFL.
“No, for sure. I think it’s always been the most competitive division. I love the division because you know they run the ball, they are traditional and twelve personnel 13, 22, you know. All the big guys are liable to come in and play. So I mean you never know what you’re going to get. You know, you play Baltimore, you play the Browns, you play the Steelers, you know, you’re going to get the ball ran at you a couple times, more than a couple times than all these other conferences. I like to spread the ball around and create five-wide and matchups and stuff like that. So I’m happy to be back and I’m happy to be in the AFC north.”
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