Who here is buying Dupree?

They aren't getting that kind of free agent for just one year, which means committing to that kind of money for 2021. That makes it a lot tougher to keep Watt. That is why I say the tag makes the most sense.

Keeping Dupree for one year makes the team better in 2020, which may be the last they get from Roethlisberger. What players behind him do you think they are holding back? Chickillo has already proven he's no better than a backup. Adeniyi had opportunities and he has shown absolutely nothing since that flashy preseason two years ago. Skipper is waiver wire fodder. They don't have anybody developing behind Dupree right now. That is another reason why tagging him makes so much sense.

 

Agree to disagree.

 

https://stillcurtain.com/2020/01/23/3-options-steelers-sign-bud-dupree/

A good article on it. there would be plenty of sacrifice at other positions with good players being let go if Bud were to be franchised.

Steelers are 30th in cap space available BTW. So Free Agency will be a very tough road.

 

Nice find. The first 2 weren’t on my radar. I thought of Judon but don’t think he’s a reasonable option. There are guys out there for sure....

 

barron, chick, foster, McDonald =20,000,000

I would prefer to keep McDonald. When he’s healthy he is a heck of a weapon. However, his constant injuries and price tag make him expendable imo

 

after their dead money it is around 13 mil. for all those guys. Then we need to replace 3 starters. So that money dwindles pretty fast when it's all said and done.

 

That's what some don't realize...Cut this,that, and the other...Free 20 Mill up, and let's go Shopping... There's dead money you have to incur, PLUS you have to replace the ones who, in your opinion are not worth the money...And generally if that is the case...If will cost you more to replace them with better players unless,You have younguns ready to step in!

 

They have replacements for Barron on the roster. They do have to keep Finney or Foster, but not both. Tight end is a significant problem, but he is really the only tough call in that group.

 

Their dead money hit isn’t even half that. Quit making up numbers The only player we don’t have a replacement for his McDonald.

sorry misread your post. Thought you claimed their dead money hit was 13million.

 

Are we going back to vince starting? We save 2.375 mil. by cutting barron and a guy that can cover and the 3rd leading tackler on the team with 3 sacks and a pick. Find another for that 2.375 savings. Big mistake if you ask me. Remember that was his first year with the team.

UG3 and spillane are untested.

Vince was benched as a starter. His coverage is bad. He has never had over 76 tackles in a season. He costs a lot of money. One of the worst signings Colbert has made for that kind of money per production output.

Still out of that 13 mil. We must sign finney and someone at TE. Possibly two. Then we will need backups. None of this still gets us close to dupree.

 

If Barron is gone the Vince has to start. That’s fine as long as they stick to what he is good at, don’t ask him to cover receivers in the slot or out wide like at times in the past

 

It's not as if Barron was fantastic in coverage. He would be near his guy, but he was beaten quite a bit. There were a few teams that has a great deal of success targeting him, starting with the Patriots.

 

Absolutely agree. But he is a lot better than Vince at that job all the same. Vince is a run stuffer and can blitz on passing downs quite well. Let him do that

 

he can't cover backs of TEs either. If he's on the field he will have a bullseye on him. He's not very good against the run either. Missed tackles and runs up into the line in the wrong gap mostly. How easily you guys forget. He won't make this defense better. My friggin head will explode

 

Hey mcam.

Yes, this year out of the five on his contract was the most lucrative. Your Quote: "I do think he was playing desperate this year also as he had millions of dollars on the line with his contract year".

Given, that I still cannot buy that he played "Possum" for four years just to turn it on for a big payday in year #5. Once again, too risky for me. However, nothing is out of the realm of possibilities. Maybe somehow the thought of all that cash in Year #5 did trigger something off to make him perform at a higher level. You can never underestimate the influence of money for many situations in life.

Because it took him to year #5 to seemingly "Get It", Management is now in a tough negotiating situation. If he performed well in Year #3 or #4 (I realize one of those years was his wrist injury I believe. I think #3.) the Front Office had more time to negotiate a new contract without having their backs against the wall as they do now. Now the options are more in favor of Dupree and his agent to control the process. One of the following will now most likely play out:

• He will get paid big on a one year tag deal from the Steelers.
• Some team will overpay him in Free Agency and we lose our investment.
• He will stay loyal to Pittsburgh and accept a reasonable contract from them. This would be the ideal outcome for everyone.

Another possible bad piece of news is that we may be also going down the same road with Terrell Edmunds. I am not sure where he is in contract years. Also, unlike Bud he has not really shown any growth unfortunately. However, if his situation ends up paralleling Bud's, then here we go again (ugh).


STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

He’s not good in coverage, I get and acknowledged that. I don’t think he is terrible against the run but even if he is, he is the best that will be on the roster unless UG3 takes a big step forward. Nobody has elite players at every position, all you can do is try to get the best from what you have.

 

The defense was weaker against the pass and stronger against the run every time Williams replaced Barron in the lineup.

 

Yeah I think you put him in there on early downs against the run. He is a good blitzer too on passing downs. He is poor in coverage so don’t ask him to do it unless absolutely necessary.

Letting Barron go is fine with me, Bush should hopefully take a step forward and I think Sutton is able for a bigger role on passing downs as well. They will probably keep Hilton too and presumably they will draft a backup safety so they should be well covered.

 

Matt Judon would be nice but I think he is in that 16-17 mil area as well.

If Dupree goes to another team, I guarantee you'll see the best out of Ola and Skipper come training camp. Two dogs, one bone. Especially if Chick is down the road too. And no one knows how either will do since they didn't get any significant reps in season. So that's why I'm sure they'll add a FA to throw in the mix, but at least they will have the money to do so. Plus they could retain Vanimal and ease the TE need, tender or sign Hilton, Banner and Feiler.

 

The benefits to franchising Bud is that he will be off the books after next season so they will have the money to re-sign JuJu and give Watt the 5th year option or sign long term.
Plus you keep the ROLB spot the same for a supposed last run for Ben. The good thing is that they will hear more about Ben's medicals before they have to decide on the tag. At least the early medicals, they won't really know til late summer when he starts throwing and by that time Bud's fate will be determined.

Even if you keep Bud, will the defense still be the same? Hargrave will be gone and he kept a lot of pressure off Heyward and the other tackles for them to do their thing. Can they find a replacement for that??

 

The 20 mil is cap savings the dead money is already taken off. I agree we would have to replace them but some are on the roster already. For example Chick he has a cap hit o 6.097 we save 5 mil with 1.097 as dead money. We replace him with Ola at 665k and then Skipper(585k) or a rookie 500k to take Ola's spot. So you see we would have 4 mil freed up.

 

This 100%. Anyone thinking either Ola and Skipper had opportunities and they didn’t perform I’d like to know when they got these opportunities. You mean Ola’s 62 snaps? and Skippers 0? Wasn’t Dupree given 4 years to get it right?

 

As far as the defense being the same? The same personnel doesn’t guarantee the same results. The D lived off sacks and turnovers. Sacks can be pretty consistent but the TOs can’t be counted on. If we are a significantly worse D without Dupree I’d be surprised. Other guys should be able to step up just like they did when we lost Tuitt. To me it still boils down to what other positions and players will need to be sacrificed for one guy?

 

I'm not impressed by Chickillo. I'm not sure what his cap number is, but I think it's a couple mill. I'd cut him for that much.

OLB is a tough one. One person made a good point that due to Ben's pretty much last year IMO it might be worth it to at least try and keep the core defense together for one more year. I still have respect for Ben and think the Steelers have a chance if he's playing well. So I'm not entirely against the one year tag for need more than anything.

But like 16 mill or whatever is pretty steep. JJ Watt is our franchise pass rusher. Need to keep that guy in the burgh for a long time. I'm not a huge fan of releasing the entire team to sign Bud either. I like Feiler and Hargraves although I have a pretty good feeling both are as good as gone.

Matt Judd sure.. I'd probably just tag Bud at that point though at 16mil if I could even afford it.

 

Wow Chick is getting that! sorry gang I don't see it on tape.