The Pittsburgh Steelers and Bud Dupree continue to come one step closer to a reunion. Dupree has spent the past two seasons with the Tennessee Titans originally signing an 82-million-dollar contract. The Titans took a big risk signing Dupree after he tore his ACL near the end of the 2020 season, and the risk didn't pay off. Instead, Dupree struggled to recover from his injured knee by the start of the 2021 season, and after returning too quickly would miss several games because of complications from his ACL repair.
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The Steelers are hoping that Dupree's injury problems are behind him as they've been rumored to be interested in a reunion with their former first round pick for weeks now. Dejan Kovacevic of DK Pittsburgh Sports originally reported on the subject during an installment of his Friday Insider back at the end of February.
Since then, it's been a weekly update from Kovacevic and the national media about the progress between the Steelers and Dupree. Just this morning Kovacevic reported that two sides are speaking.
"I can share that the two parties are engaged in talks aimed at a return," Kovacevic shared.
That was punctuated by a report from ESPN's Jeremy Fowler this afternoon when he posted this tweet on his Twitter account.
Potential reunion: #Steelers are bringing free-agent pass rusher Bud Dupree in for a visit, per sources.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 24, 2023
Dupree recorded 39.5 sacks over six seasons with Pittsburgh. He ended last season on IR with Titans but is now healthy. pic.twitter.com/y8p4LCQF6H
Now let's make something clear. Dupree would be coming back as the third outside linebacker behind TJ Watt, and Alex Highsmith. The Steelers use a big rotation amongst their linebackers to try and keep Watt, and Highsmith fresh for third downs. They've been unsuccessful in having a good rotation since 2020 when Dupree was the starter, and then rookie Highsmith was playing behind him. They even tried trading for Malik Reed before the season started last year in hopes of solving the issue. Reed was mostly ineffective recording only one sack on the season. He recently signed with the Miami Dolphins as a free agent.
Malik Reed rushes the passer. Credit: Karl Roser/Pittsburgh Steelers
As mentioned, Dupree has struggled with injuries during the past two seasons, but when he's been on the field, he's been effective. He's recorded seven sacks, and two forced fumbles over the past 17 games. Those aren't Watt numbers, but they're a whole helluva lot better than Reed, or Jamir Jones who currently sits as the #3 outside linebacker on the roster. They also have Quincy Roche back who Pittsburgh released after training camp in 2021, but he'd been unable to stay on the New York Giants 53-man roster. Roche was originally a sixth-round pick of the Steelers.
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The biggest thing for the Steelers is obviously going to be Dupree's health. Is he healthy? Yesterday some videos surfaced of Dupree working out and appears 100% healthy.
Bud Dupree working out #buddupree #steelers #herewego #Pittsburgh #nfl pic.twitter.com/jp1mCZ9XVv
— matthew luciow (@Luciow1992) March 23, 2023
The second thing will be how much money does Dupree want? Melvin Ingram was in a similar situation when he came over to the Steelers from Los Angeles in 2021. He was coming off a huge contract from the Chargers that didn't work out. He was injured throughout 2020 and teams weren't sure if he could rebound into the player he once was. The Steelers took a flier on him for 4 million on a one-year deal. Things obviously didn't work out due to Ingram wanting more playing time. But don't look for that to be an issue with Dupree.
It's likely a one year 6–7-million-dollar deal is what it will take to sign Dupree. They might even consider a two-year contract with more of the money being in the second year. Either of those would be the ideal scenario for the Steelers.
Are you ready for Bud Dupree to come back? Let us know in the comments below.
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