4 reasons Steelers Bud Dupree won’t be re-signed after 2020

Negotiations will be hard

This was a point that was prevalent to JuJu Smith-Schuster, and it is arguably even more difficult now with Dupree. Unless the Steelers hand out the franchise tag, there is little reason for Dupree not to enter free agency to gauge his value. Unless Dupree has a large desire to stay with the Steelers, gauging what his market is will be the best way for him to capitalize on his new deal.

While the franchise tag alone would be stiff (well over 15 million dollars), it would be the second year in a row Dupree was tagged. This means, his salary would be whatever his previous year’s salary was times 120 percent. This means that in order to franchise tag Dupree, it would cost the Steelers 19 million dollars, a cap charge they couldn’t feasibly have on the books in a cap-strapped year.

Even if the Steelers hoped to sign Dupree and later extend him, they would still need to clear 19 million in cap space just give him the tag and remain cap compliant. It simply isn’t possible, meaning that Dupree will likely explore his market value instead. While the Steelers may still pursue him, there is likely to be a hot market for his services. Any bidding war will likely get too expensive for Dupree, leading to him being on a new team next year.