PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The news jumped out as linebacker Joe Schobert called some plays during his first practice as a Steeler on Sunday. Schobert would say after practice, he believes the plan for him is to get the green dot. Which means he would be the key communicator on the field.
Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler explained on Tuesday that's more about Bush's injury than loss of belief in the 2019 first round pick.
"We are not disappointed in Devin at all," Butler said. "What we want to do with Devin. He's trying to get back healthy from the knee injury. We are trying to keep that weight off of him. He's still going to help Joe."
"Sometimes you heal fast from a knee injury, sometimes you don't. We want to see how he is healing by him playing in the preseason. It gives us the chance to know what we can put on him and what we can't."
Bush tore his ACL in the October game last year against Cleveland. While on the surface he looks fully recovered, Butler wants to be cautious, but hasn't lost confidence.
"It ain't like Devin is done," Butler said. He's still going to help Joe with some of the calls."
Butler went on to say it's not a bad thing if they have multiple players capable of making the calls.
"If we got two guys who know what the crap we are doing, what everyone else is doing," Butler said. "That's two quarterbacks we have on our team and we need that. We do."
Schobert has to show he can learn it quickly, Butler doesn't believe that will be an issue. He said teams basically run the same plays, but call it something different. Once he learns the lingo, the seven-year Steelers defensive coordinator believes he can be a real asset.
"We had him at the Pro Bowl three or four years ago," Butler said of Schobert. "He was a smart kid then. There was a reason he was at the Pro Bowl."
"We have confidence in him. Every day he's going to be getting better and more confident in what his teammates are doing around him. I think that's the biggest thing for him right now, not just to learn what he's doing. If we ask him to be the green dot, he's got to know just about everything. We think he's capable."
Butler said who plays on passing downs depends on how Bush, from injury, and Schobert, inexperience with Steelers, progress. He believes it's not a negative about Bush, rather a positive about the options now at middle linebacker.
