While the teams decision to re-sign Vince Williams and restricted free agent, Robert Spillane, helped strengthen the rotation opposite of returning every down linebacker Devin Bush, depth at the position remained underwhelming ahead of the draft, with Marcus Allen and Ulysses Gilbert III serving as the top reserves. Enter fourth round pick Buddy Johnson out of Texas A&M, a tackling machine who compiled 85 tackles, four sacks, a pair of forced fumbles, and a pick six as a senior, helping improve his stock with equally impressive testing numbers.
In Mike Tomlin and Keith Butler’s defensive scheme, which has traditionally opposed traveling cornerbacks from the boundary to match personnel, it is imperative that the team identified a capable coverage linebacker to pair across from third year star Devin Bush.