After all these years, Bud is finally growing on me...

Guys, Bud Dupree is finally growing on me. Obviously the better play helps, but the guy just sounds like a leader.

Check this out:

 

The Football IQ of being a pass rusher has finally caught up with Bud. Bud has always had the athletic capabilities. It was just frustrating to see it took this long for some. As I have stated though, nevermind his lack of experience of the position at Kentucky, Joey Porter was less than adequate. T.J.'s development is thanks in large part to outside circumstances.... his brother.



I am hoping that Terrell can also achieve the same level of success Bud sees now. Much like Bud, Terrell was moved all over in college so he does not have a natural feel for the position like Minkah does. Terrell has some SERIOUSLY special athletic gifts by safety standards.... just has to put it all together.

 

He used to just run straight up the field, way past the QB. Its like someone said to him, "Hey Bud, try hooking alittle towards the actual QB."

Or Joey Potter was finally canned. That probably helped more.

 

He and TJ are a great combination, possibly the best 3-4 OLB duo in the league. I hope they can keep both of them into the future.

 

Bud's in a contract year. Bud will be gone. At the rate guys get paid for rushing the QB, no way they can keep him. Steelers are going to have to pay Watt and Juju. Can't keep everybody.

Hoping we get a shot keep Hargrave. But that might be hard too.

 

I wouldn't give JuJu 18-20 million a year, if he doesn't take a hometown deal, then he can walk. He hasn't stepped up to show he's a #1 WR, use that money to pay Watt.

 

Yep, JuJu just looks scared or non-committed. Either way, he hasn't done much.

 

18.5 sacks and 8 force fumbles between them both in 11 games

 

Other than a couple top-tier QB's, does 'hometown deal' really exist?

 

Sure beats nose, ear and back hair, like the rest of us.

 

To keep both they’d have to get Ben off the books after 2020. You could easily squeeze Bud in next year and Watt the year after if Ben retires at the end of 2020. That would give you one shot with Ben back under center and all your key pieces on defence in place, Tuitt returning etc. Juju and Conner hopefully will be ready to go too and JW and DJ are a year on, go offence heavy in the draft and go for it.

Plan can’t work if Ben comes back and sucks or if there is another injury crisis of course

 

This isn't baseball, that's not really something most NFL guys take.

 

Indeed. Regarding T.J., think about this for a second. Quite important if you ask me.


TJ Watt has 31.5 sacks through his first three seasons. JJ Watt had 36.5. All T.J. needs to do is average one sack for the remainder of the season to surpass his big brother J.J.


Keep in mind on what J.J. Watt said about T.J.;


"He is better than I was when I came out. He has more of a grasp on how to play the position and has more of a better understanding of it as well."


J.J. Watt in an interview prior to the 2017 NFL Draft



For an even better context, Khalil Mack's first three season totaled 30 sacks even. T.J. has surpassed Khalil Mack in total sacks already. That is not the most impressive aspect of this as Khalil Mack is not just a superstar pass rusher..



The aforementioned is also before factoring in that Khalil Mack is the only player in the NFL's 100 Year History to have First Team All Pro in two different positions. After that season, the Pro Football Writers of America abolished any player from receiving First Team All Pro at two different positions. That is something that will never happen again.



T.J. Watt is LITERALLY out performing two future HOF players. That is unreal. What does that say about his future projection?!?!

 

Holy hell i knew he was good but didn’t know he was that good. What this means is he is going to break our bank lol

 

Bud is gone in March 2020. All of the money is tied up on DL and 38 year old QB with bad elbow on throwing arm.

 

Especially not todays NFL. Not saying it's wrong either. It is all about the guaranteed money. Teams discard players with huge non-guaranteed contracts every year. The key is how they feel about Ju Ju, when to make a move to resign him. This year is hard to judge, we expected more, but with the QB he has had how much could he really give? I still think if Ben were healthy his numbers would be down, but still would have had a decent year.

 

Don't forget the aging Center who looks lost at times.

 

Loved him in year 1 when he was smashing heads. Then he turned into a waste getting manhandled on the edge. Could it possibly be coaching putting him in the wrong place and play calling?

 

Doesn’t AB’s salary come off the books next year? That would help sign some of our guys back.

 

Hey steelersrule6.

I think that the #1 WR title has been unfairly given to JuJu. I hope that he embraces it but I think that some folks just automatically appointed him this title based on AB's departure. He still has to earn it. He definitely was the beneficiary of Brown receiving double and sometimes triple team coverage. Yes, he definitely as you stated "hasn't stepped up to show he's a #1 WR". For right now, I would be happy with him, Washington, and Johnson all being together on the field, at the same time, as a collective group of formidable #2s.

STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

Well Mr Porter is gone. He certainly wasn’t developing the backers. That’s for sure.

 

I thought it was about finally getting his Green thumb.

 

But JJ is always hurt so how do they compare when looking at total games played/ number of sacks?

 

I wonder if there's a chance they let him walk? I love the guy too but he's gonna cripple the team with the contract he's going to get. He's going to end up over 20 million a year.
Then Minkah will become the highest paid Safety in football who will command, by that time, 16-17 million a year. About 40 million between them. Keeping both of them would be insane. I think you can only keep one.

 

I think he was dropped into coverage much more in past seasons, as well as Butler's desire to see them more aggressive (which saw a spike in teams getting big plays against us, missed tackles etc.). I believe that Butler wanted Porter because he brought the spirit and aggression, but what we needed was better schemes to put the D in a chance to succeed, and better teaching of technique.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Porter leave, Butler takes less of a hold of the defense, and suddenly we've got a bona fide pass rush in place.