Pittsburgh Steelers 2022 Exit Interviews: Mark Robinson and Devin Bush

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2022 NFL season has come to a close. Because the Steelers are among the 31 teams who did not finish fulfilling their ultimate goal, they are in the process of wrapping up their season and moving forward into 2023.

Since the Steelers conduct exit interviews with all their players, we here at BTSC thought we would do the same. By outlining two players each day, we will be able to look at their season in retrospect as well as looking toward the future. Since Coach Tomlin has previously stated he starts his interviews with rookies, first year players, and those heading into free agency, we will do the same. To start, we will pair a potential free agent with a first-year player as we work through this process to eventually cover the entire Steelers roster.

Next up are linebackers Mark Robinson and Devin Bush.

Mark Robinson

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Position: Inside linebacker
Years with the Steelers: 1
Years in the NFL: 1
Contract Status: Signed through 2025
Contract Details: $898,089 salary cap hit for 2023. Would cost the Steelers $84,267 in dead money if released while saving $813,822.
Games played in 2022: 4 regular season
Games started in 2022: 2 regular season
Snaps (regular season): 44 (defense), 16 (special teams)
PFF score: 27.6 (DNQ for ranking)
Notable stats: Robinson had nine tackles in the 2022 season.

Notes: Only playing one year at linebacker in college, Mark Robinson was a very raw talent coming do the Steelers as a seventh-round draft pick in 2022. Inactive for 12 games this season with another where he did not see the field, Robinson started the last two games of the season for the Steelers as part of a run-heavy defensive package. But after showing how Robertson was utilized in Week 16, the Steelers opponent had a game plan in Week 17 which neutralized Robinson‘s impact and made him have to be more of a coverage linebacker. The biggest thing Robinson can do this offseason is continue to learn and study the NFL game. The speed in which Robinson can be utilized by the Steelers will be dependent on how quickly he can pick up this important part of being an NFL linebacker.

Devin Bush

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Position: Inside linebacker
Years with the Steelers: 4
Years in the NFL: 4
Contract Status: Free Agent
Contract Details: Contract expiring with no dead money.
Games played in 2022: 17 regular season
Games started in 2022: 14 regular season
Snaps (regular season): 659 (defense), 68 (special teams)
PFF score: 58.8 (54th of 84)
Notable stats: Bush finished the 2022 season with 81 tackles, two of which were for loss, two quarterback hits, and two passes defensed. It was the first season of Bush’s NFL career where he did not register a sack.

Notes: It would be difficult to see any kind of situation where either party is interested in the other services. With the Steelers only playing Bush for five snaps on defense in each of the last two games, they were more interested in having a successful defense on the field than keeping the former 10th overall draft pick happy within the defense. So while Devin Bush likely wants to move on to somewhere else, even if he didn’t I don’t know if Steelers would be interested in anything other than a league minimum contract. I think Steelers’ Nation would be shocked to see Devin Bush wearing black and gold again.

Make sure you check back each day for another set of exit interviews. If you have missed any of the previous articles, they are listed here:

Kenny Pickett & Mason Rudolph
George Pickens & Miles Boykin
DeMarvin Leal & Larry Ogunjobi
Connor Heyward & Zach Gentry