3 reasons why the Steelers should/should not resign Bud Dupree

The Steelers former first-round has not lived up to expectations

Reason #1 why the Steelers should not resign Dupree has to do with what was just stated above, which is this: He has not lived up to expectations, plain and simple. His 26 sacks over 64 career games equate to .40625 or .41 if you want to keep it to two decimal places.

For a former first-round pick and an outside linebacker in our defense scheme, that productivity, or lack thereof, is just not good enough to warrant a new contract.  Dupree has 6 sacks thus far in the 2019 campaign.  The sack total matches his career single-season total.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Dupree is on pace to have the best statistical season of his career in a contract year. So he wasn’t able to have his best season last year?  If he had a career year the previous season, maybe the Steelers would have been inclined to work out a long-term deal.

Reason #2 why the Steelers should not resign Dupree is this: He is not even the best outside linebacker on the defense.  In all fairness, Dupree is the second-best outside linebacker on the team. However, since Watt is still playing on his rookie deal, it would cost the Steelers far more to resign Dupree than it would be to draft an outside linebacker and to try to cultivate the backup outside linebackers currently on the roster.

Reason # 3 why the Steelers should not resign Dupree is this:  Provided the Steelers were to offer Dupree a contract, would he even be the best free-agent outside linebacker on the market?  Unless Dupree is willing to give us a ‘hometown’ discount, so to speak, the Steelers may be better served by allocating the salary cap dollars to another free agent linebacker or to more productive players who are due for contract extensions.

Look, I think it would be unfortunate if the Steelers did not at least try to resign Dupree since he was a first-round pick, but what makes us believe that Dupree is all of a sudden going to produce double-digit sacks like his running mate is producing? I don’t see it happening.

So we discussed some reasons why the Steelers should and should not resign Bud Dupree.  I believe the decision will come down to our ability to objectively answer this question:  Would the defense be better with or without Dupree?  I don’t know the answer to that question.  I don’t know that the Steelers, at this point, know the answer to that question.  I can only hope we at least ask the question.