Bud Dupree was on pace to have one of the best seasons of his career in 2020. The Pittsburgh Steelers decided to Franchise Tag in the offseason. He made a whopping $15.8 million in 2020. That is good money for one season as a linebacker. Unfortnently Dupree's season ended against the Ravens in Week 12 when he tore his ACL. Dupree was on pace to break double digits in sacks. It was a tough break for the Steelers and Dupree because Devin Bush went down prior with an ACL tear as well.
John Clayton joined 93.7 The Fan yesterday and discussed how Dupree could come back to the Steelers on a team-friendly deal in the offseason. Clayton says Dupree could be looking for a one-year deal in the range of $6 million due to the cap coming down in 2021 and coming off of an ACL tear. Clayton feels many free agents will feel the effects of a low cap situation in the 2021 offseason.
Bud Dupree laughed at the tweet by Andrew Filliponi suggesting John Clayton's idea. It would benefit Bud Dupree and his Agent to get around the Steelers cap this season by signing a team-friendly deal for $6 million if he wanted to stay with TJ Watt and the Steelers. Once Dupree and the Steelers move onto the 2022 season the Steeler cap situation would be wide open for Dupree getting a longer and bigger contract in Pittsburgh. It does sound like the possibility of Dupree signing a team-friendly deal is laughable for Dupree at this point. Blitzburgh has reached out to Dupree on a comment about the idea of coming back to the Steelers on a team-friendly deal, but I have not heard a word back. It seems unlikely at this point, but it does give Bud Dupree an option to stay in Pittsburgh.