PITTSBURGH — Three names that don't exactly inspire early confidence for the 2022 Steelers:
Matt Canada. Mason Rudolph. Kendrick Green (as a representative of a woeful offensive line).
Three names that should have you excited about the possibilities next season, fully realizing it still is February:
Brian Flores. Devin Bush. Stephon Tuitt.
I'm feeling positive today, so let's focus on the defense.
The hiring of Flores might be Mike Tomlin's best coaching personnel move. Flores spent 11 seasons with New England's incomparable Bill Belichick, the best in the business. "He's been a successful defensive coordinator, Super Bowl champion as a coordinator," Kevin Colbert was saying about Flores this week. "He's been a successful head coach. I'm sure there are things he can add to our team."
Flores can make one of his more significant contributions by coaching up Bush and helping him become the player the Steelers thought he would be when they traded up to draft him No. 10 overall in 2019. Bush was horrible last season, a major reason the Steelers had the NFL's worst run defense. It would be inaccurate to say he didn't fight off a block all season. But he didn't fight off many. Even former teammate Vince Williams, in a series of tweets asking fans and media to ease up on Bush because of his major knee surgery in October 2020, pointed out Bush could be making more of an effort.
"I know Devin can play better because he has played better, albeit when he was younger and healthier," Colbert said.
Bush was playing well until his injury in the fifth game of the 2020 season and had showed impressive signs as a rookie the year before. Maybe he wasn't on Ryan Shazier's level, but he gave the Steelers hope that they had found Shazier's replacement.
"It's not unusual for someone coming off an ACL to not be 100% right away," Colbert said. "We're hoping that he can come back and have a better 2022."
Just how much the Steelers believe Bush will be better with a stronger knee will become evident in May when they have to decide if they're going to pick up his fifth-year option for 2023, which will be worth between $10 million and $11 million.
Part of me says there's no way the Steelers give Bush that guaranteed option, instead making him show he can be an anchor on their defense. Playing for a big contract would be added motivation for him, right? Guys often have their best season in a contract year.
But another part of me says the Steelers have invested so much in Bush that it would be prudent to invest one more season in him. That's what they did with another No. 1 pick, Bud Dupree, who became a star in his fifth season after being a disappointment in his first four.
"Devin Bush, I think, will be a better player in 2022," Colbert said, adding the team has made no decision about Bush's option year.
An improved Bush certainly would help the Steelers' run defense, which allowed 229 rushing yards to then-winless Detroit last season, 198 to Cincinnati, 242 to Minnesota (176 in the first half alone), 201 to Cincinnati and 249 to Baltimore.
So would the return of Tuitt. That would be an enormous help. He is an enormous man.
The Steelers defense was lost without Tuitt, who missed the entire 2021 season because of a knee injury and the aftermath of a family tragedy. His brother, Richard Bartlett III, 23, was killed in a hit-and-run accident in June. The team supported him through both, paying him his full $9 million salary.
People grieve in different ways.
If Tuitt didn't feel comfortable leaving his family and playing football last season, that's fine. If he wants to retire instead of playing again, that's fine, too. But he can't continue to leave the Steelers in limbo. He has to let the team know his plans. His absence, along with Tyson Alualu's season-ending ankle injury in the second game, was devastating last season. It left Cam Heyward as a one-man defensive line.
"I think we would have been better had we had Stephon and Tyson and a healthy Devin Bush," Colbert said.
Tuitt, a terrific player when healthy and present, would have made a huge difference last season and will make a huge difference in 2022 if he's right, physically and mentally. The problem is his availability and dependability haven't matched his football ability. In addition to missing all 18 games last season, he played in just six of 16 in 2019. He had 11 sacks when he played in 15 games in 2020.
"We've been in contact with Stephon," Colbert said. "We're very open to continue to help him. We will continue to evaluate that position and his availability to us. We just hope for the best for him as he tries to come back and be a part of the Pittsburgh Steelers."
Despite that lukewarm endorsement from Colbert, I like to think Tuitt will make it back, perhaps at a reduced salary. He was nearly on the great Heyward's level when he played. He can turn a mediocre defense into something much more formidable.
Now about that Canada-Rudolph offense ...
Please, let's not go there.
Today is a day to be positive, remember?
