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On Tuesday, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN released his top 50 free agents of the 2021 offseason. Fowler had Bud Dupree ranked as his seventh-best free agent this offseason and has the Titans as the best fit. Dupree has compiled 19.5 sacks in the last two years and would certainly be a fit for the Titans, as they are in a need of a pass rusher after they recorded just 19 sacks in 2020, which was the third-fewest in the league.
Fowler mentions that the Titans could get a slight discount by signing Dupree, who suffered an ACL in Week 12 against the Ravens and might not be ready for the start of the 2021 season. The Steelers would like to bring Dupree back and pair him as a duo with Watt, but they are currently projected to be around $30 million over the salary cap and probably won't be able to offer Dupree a new contract.
Dupree is looking at getting in the range of $16-20 million per year and that amount is just not feasible for the Steelers with their current cap situation.
According to Overthecap.com, the Titans are around $3 million over the projected cap number of $180,500,000, so they would have to make some moves to free up some money to sign Dupree. The Lions are another team that could be a fit for Dupree. They are currently projected to be around $6 million under the cap. They had just 24 sacks last year and are in desperate need of a pass rusher.
The ideal team to make a run at Dupree in my opinion is the Colts, who have around $69 million in cap space, which is the second-most in the league, behind just the Jaguars. The Colts need an edge rusher and Dupree would certainly fit the bill. The Patriots also have roughly $62 million in cap space, so that could be another potential landing spot for Dupree. The Patriots had just 24 sacks last year, which was tied for the sixth-fewest in the league along with the Lions.