Devin Bush has slipped into the middle of the Bears defense and, in the process, turned into one of the team’s smartest offseason additions.
That’s no small thing on a roster that has already been defined by bigger headlines. Chicago traded two first-round picks for a defensive tackle, its rookie safety is putting together a Defensive Rookie of the Year push, and the slot cornerback who just got back from injury has somehow become the team’s top pass rusher. Lost in all of that noise is Bush, who arrived in Chicago this offseason on a three-year, $30 million deal.
For a while, it looked like Bush’s career might be headed somewhere else entirely. He entered the league as the No. 10 overall pick in the 2019 draft, but four years in Pittsburgh left plenty of people calling him a bust. After that came a season in Seattle where he was on special teams more than defense, then two straight one-year contracts in Cleveland.
That stretch made it feel like his NFL run was fading. Instead, Bush put together his best season yet with the Browns, finishing with a career-high 125 tackles and three interceptions, including two returned for touchdowns. That was enough for the Bears to step in and pay him to replace Tremaine Edmunds.
So far, the fit has been strong.
Bush sits second on the Bears with 38 tackles, behind rookie Dillon Thieneman, who has 47. He was the team’s leading tackler in Week 5 at Green Bay with eight stops in what became Chicago’s ugliest game of the season.
He’s also been involved in some of the biggest moments of the year. In Week 6 at Atlanta, Bush was there to fall on the loose ball after Kyler Gordon strip-sacked Michael Penix Jr. and seal the win.
Beyond the splash plays, Bush has become a steady part of Dennis Allen’s improvised blitz packages, which have been a defining part of the Bears’ defense this season. ESPN’s Courtney Cronin picked Thieneman as her best offseason addition of the year, but she also said the only player who came close was Bush.
Chicago’s defense has been living on the fly all season, relying on contingency plans in a lot of spots. The middle of the defense hasn’t been one of them.
Bush is 28, under contract, and playing the best football of his career for the second straight year. The Simmons trade may be the bigger headline, but Bush’s signing could end up being the better piece of business over time.
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The bigger question now is how much more the Bears can get out of him rushing the passer. Johnson said the staff wants to challenge Sweat in that area, which adds an interesting layer to a front that held up while he was away. Austin Booker and Daniel Hardy helped cover the gap during the suspension, and Hardys work even drew praise, leaving Chicago with more options than it had before Sweat ever stepped back into the lineup. [Read more 🡒]