Unlike the summers of 2017 and 2018, there will be no drama regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers and a player to which they applied the franchise tag.
Outside linebacker Bud Dupree signed his franchise tender, the team announced Thursday. He will make $15.8 million in 2020, a figure arrived at by averaging the five best-paid players at his position.
Dupree had career highs in sacks (11 ½) and tackles for loss (16) last season, his fifth in the NFL after being the Steelers’ first-round pick in 2015. He played 2019 under the $9.2 million fifth-year option the Steelers exercised on him.
#Steelers Bud Dupree has broken his career cycle of good-but-not-great seasons with a breakout campaign in which he has career highs in sacks (8 ½), total tackles (50), solo tackles (38), forced fumbles (four) and passes defended (tied, three) https://t.co/BlIIhDjbvi
— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) December 8, 2019
The Steelers and Dupree have until a league-imposed July 15 deadline to come to terms on a longer-term contract. That is not seen as highly likely, though.
Dupree signing so early in the offseason eliminates the possibility for the distraction that running back Le’Veon Bell caused within the Steelers two and three summers ago. When the Steelers tagged Bell in 2017, he sat out all offseason activities and training camp and did not sign the tender until the Monday before the regular season began.
The next year, he did not sign it at all and sat out the season. The Steelers were left with an empty $14.5 million salary-cap hit, and Bell signed with the New York Jets last spring.
But unlike Bell, Dupree never expressed the hostility toward the franchise tag, even as it was becoming increasingly apparent late last season that it was a strong possibility it would be applied to him.
During his season-ending news conference, coach Mike Tomlin termed keeping Dupree “a priority.” Though Dupree’s sack production was underwhelming over his first four NFL seasons (20 total, with a career high of 5 ½), he teamed with All Pro T.J. Watt to form one of the league’s best edge-rushing duos in 2019.
The Steelers had the NFL’s No. 5 defense last season, and Dupree led the unit in tackles for loss and was second to Watt in sacks and forced fumbles (four).
Among 2015 NFL draftees, Dupree ranks third in career tackles for loss (46) and sixth in sacks (31 ½). He has played 47 of the Steelers’ 48 games the past three seasons.
According to spotrac.com, Dupree’s salary-cap hit is second-highest on the team for this coming season, trailing only quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s $23.75 million.
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