Bud Dupree Leaves Representation before Officially Hitting Free Agency

[Hines57]

Well, there's always this to consider...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Early reports are pointing to a normalized increase in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFL</a> Salary Cap for 2020 ($200M) then back to back big jumps in 21-22 (not unlike how the NBA agreement worked). Potentially as high as $40M increases. <br><br>Translation: Mahomes waits until next offseason for an extension.</p>— Spotrac (@spotrac) <a href="https://twitter.com/spotrac/status/1233514904625274881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Like I said earlier, you sign the guy now and you're getting him for a bargain when the market gets reset as the cap rises. Not sure why this is so hard for some to understand.

 

[Litos]

Because no one offered him the big FA money he thought he'd get.

That's right

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[Stryker]

Jason Worilds is the closest comparison to Bud Dupree I know of. The similarities of "excellence" are eerie.

I have said before and I'll say it again. We should not tag Dupree.

I do not think management and player are realistically close enough to make a long-term contract work. And I don't agree in paying $15 million for a rental player. There are as good, if not better, bang for your buck to rent a player for a year or two to fill that position. You just have to be a lot more creative than our management normally is.

I've said, I would rather use Dupree's money to see if we can get Jamie Collins for a more reasonable 2-year or 3-year deal to hold us over. And use the leftover money to strengthen the depth at TE or O-line.

The defense is NOT going to be the reason we don't have a successful 2020. As always with this team, some injury or weakness in our depth will rear its head during the season. I think that weakness is at TE (as part of depth at weapons) and an aging O-line that doesn't have good depth for when the injuries come (and they will with this group).

I can think of a million things I'd rather do with $15 million in cap space that put it all in on Dupree for ONE SEASON when all indications are we are so far away from his salary demands we are never going to sign him long term.

I know I'm in the minority. I know we are likely to get word TODAY that the Steelers tag Dupree and throw all my hopes out the window.

But that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

And Del, an interesting option would be if the Steelers did a Tag and Trade. I know they haven't in the past, but I think with Bell holding out, they may be a little shy to use the exclusive tag again. A nonexlusive will at least maximize compensation for Bud at his absolute highest value.

 

[stillwright]

And Del, an interesting option would be if the Steelers did a Tag and Trade. I know they haven't in the past, but I think with Bell holding out, they may be a little shy to use the exclusive tag again. A nonexlusive will at least maximize compensation for Bud at his absolute highest value.

And it would get him his market value. When we tagged Bell it was only us negotiating with Bell. We were bidding against ourselves each year. And Bell's price kept going up. When he hit the open market his actual value was millions less than what we were offering.