Last Round 1 LB, Devin Bush

by Bo Marchionte
@bomarchionte | College2Pro.com
Published March 11, 2026, 8:14 AM

In Pittsburgh, linebackers aren’t positions on a depth chart. They’re tradition. Their identity. They’re the kind of players who once roamed the middle of the defense wearing numbers like 58 and 59, hitting with a kind of violence that echoed through the steel beams of old Three Rivers Stadium.

So, when the Pittsburgh Steelers walked to the podium in the 2014 draft and called the name of Ryan Shazier with the 15th overall pick, it felt like something familiar. Like Pittsburgh was restocking a position that had always defined it.

Since that night, the Steelers have continued searching for linebackers the way old miners search for gold in a riverbed. One after another. Thirteen in all since 2014.

Some arrived early in the draft, carrying the weight of expectation.

In 2015 the Steelers turned in the card for Bud Dupree with the 22nd overall pick. Two years later they found something special when T. J. Watt slipped to the 30th pick in 2017, a decision that would eventually reshape the defense and place Watt among the most feared pass rushers in football.

 Then came 2019, when Pittsburgh moved aggressively for Devin Bush, selecting him 10th overall in hopes he would patrol the middle of the field for the next decade. A knee injury rerailed his time in Pittsburgh and since then the Steelers have been dormant in first or second selections of one of the team’s most traditionally iconic positions.

The draft, however, isn’t the only one road to Pittsburgh.

Free agency has filled its share of linebacker lockers as well. In recent seasons the Steelers opened the door to veterans like Cole Holcomb and Patrick Queen, players brought in to stabilize a position.

Still, the search through the draft continues.

The highest linebacker selected since Bush arrived in the third round of the 2024 draft when Pittsburgh chose Payton Wilson, a rangy defender from NC State whose instincts and sideline-to-sideline speed hinted at the kind of player Steelers fans have grown accustomed to seeing.

Thirteen linebackers drafted in a decade.

Some became stars. Some simply passed through the locker room without much fanfare.

That leads us to the 2026 NFL Draft and the possibility of Georgia Bulldogs linebacker CJ Allen being called up by Pittsburgh with the 21st overall pick. Allen is projected to land roughly within the area of the Steelers first overall pick.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Bulldog looks like the kind of ingredient that has always fit in Pittsburgh. Inside the locker room of the Pittsburgh Steelers, leadership has a tone and a tempo. Much of that rhythm comes from Cam Heyward, the veteran captain whose voice carries from the defensive meeting room to the practice field. When Heyward speaks, the room listens.
 
Allen earned that same reputation during his time with Georgia.
 
 The kind of linebacker coaches trust to line the defense up correctly and keep the structure intact. That matters in Pittsburgh, where linebackers have long been part of the franchise’s identity. Allen’s physical traits fit the mold. Compact build, downhill mentality, and the instincts to read blocking schemes quickly. But what may make him intrigue to the Steelers isn’t just what he does between the whistles.
 
It’s how he approaches the game.
 

Queen is entering the final year of his 3-year $41M deal he signed in 2024. With the lack of attention in the higher rounds. The pedigree in which the team values the position, Allen is kind of creeping into my mind as a strong candidate for the Steelers in round one.

It’s been offensive tackle and defensive line help for most of this off-season. Watching free agency unfold leads me to this pick.

Allen is now on the radar.

Omar Khan, loaded with draft capital. Let’s not rule out a jump up the draft boards for Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles as well.

The possibilities are endless.

Photo Credit Frank Hyatt/College2Pro.com

 

 

 

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