Top 10 linebackers in the 2019 NFL Draft

#2 Devin Bush, Michigan

This son of a former NFL defensive back with the same name was a two-time All-Florida pick and four-star recruit coming out of high school. After being a special teams demon for the Wolverines as a freshman, Bush stepped into the starting lineup on defense in 2017 and was a game-wrecker for the Maze and Blue off the get-go, as he recorded seven tackles and two sacks versus Florida in the season-opener. Overall he recorded more than 160 tackles, with 18.5 of them for loss, ten sacks and eleven pass-deflections over the last two years.

Bush is an aggressive, downhill thumper, who can play in space. He displays tenacious pursuit and loves to lay some wood. Yet, he’s not a guy who just buries his shoulder into the opponent, but rather actually runs through his tackles, as he missed only three of them in 2017. Bush has a feel for where things will open up and goes in an instant. He was one of the best in the country at creating negative plays and did so all the time these last two years. The pulse of that Michigan defense has excellent short-area explosiveness to shoot through traffic and incredible closing burst to stop plays on the edges that would have the potential to go a long way otherwise.

This kid makes plays all over the field and knocks the ball out of the hands of a few receivers underneath. He can just flat out track people down towards the sideline and coming from behind. Overall in pass coverage, he can run with pretty much anybody in-between the hashes as well as make up ground on people going into the flats and was even tasked with covering slot receivers one-on-one in spots.

Ohio State tried to hit their backs against the Wolverine linebackers on swing screens and wheel routes on plenty of occasions, but Bush only allowed one catch when he was matched up with them and had to work hard for a couple of those tackles in space, as he displayed the ability to fight over the top on some of those rub concepts. He also had an incredible interception versus Wisconsin in 2017, when he fell for the run-fake and then quickly got depth to knock the ball up in the air and still catch it himself while falling backwards.

Even though he has put together plenty of ball-production, Bush might have been even more dangerous at coming on those delayed blitzes or rushing off the edge for the Wolverines, where he displayed the ability to dip that inside shoulder and get underneath the blocker. That also comes in handy when trying to defend the run. While Bush’s ability to go East and West is what intrigues scouts, he was actually most productive coming straight downhill as a blitzer in 2018, amassing 20 total pressure, including five sacks and five more hits, on just 71 snaps rushing the passer.

You like the decisiveness and burst, but Bush gets drawn by what happens in the backfield and runs himself into trouble due to a faked jet sweeps or tosses a lot. He has benefited from some outstanding Michigan defensive lines and was allowed to run around free for the most part. Bush simply doesn’t have the length or strength to stack up offensive linemen and react to where the ball-carrier is going. Therefore I think he is limited to a WILL linebacker role in a base defense.

With that being said, when you look at what the Bears allowed Roquan Smith to do as a rookie last season, I can envision Bush doing something similar. He can play in any sub-packages with his ability to operate in space and get home as a blitzer. Outside of a sideline-to-sideline menace, you get a pissed off competitor with this guy. Bush showcased his feistiness when he came out onto the field of rival Michigan State and tried to mess up the Spartans’ midfield logo before the game started last season.