Mike Tomlin began meeting with the Steelers' rookies and practice squad players Tuesday at the Rooney Complex as he began his exit interviews to complete the 2019 season. He also began meeting with the team's potential free agents.
In case there was any question regarding the team's feelings regarding the potential free agency of Bud Dupree, Tomlin made no bones about it.
"He is a priority for us," Tomlin said. "But we haven’t had meetings yet to define that. But make no mistake, Bud Dupree is a priority for us."
What that might mean, however, remains to be seen.
Dupree had a breakout season for the Steelers in 2019, forming a top pass-rushing duo with fellow outside linebacker T.J. Watt. The two combined for 26 sacks, with both achieving career highs. Dupree had 11.5, while Watt led the AFC with 14.5.
Even that, however, was not enough for the Steelers to finish any better than 8-8 and out of the playoffs for the second consecutive season. It was a process that Tomlin said Tuesday left him "numb" as he recovers from the sting of failure.
Because of that, Tomlin knows change is inevitable. But he certainly wants Dupree back.
"We’ve got some guys that are up. We’ll do our normal business. We’ll do a good job of communicating," Tomlin said.
In addition to Dupree, nose tackle Javon Hargrave, cornerback Artie Burns, safety Sean Davis, offensive lineman B.J. Finney, tight end Nick Vannett, linebacker Tyler Matakevich and long snapper Kameron Canaday are all slated to be unrestricted free agents when the new league season begins March 18.
The team also has to make decisions on whether to make qualifying offers to restricted free agents including corner Mike Hilton, offensive linemen Matt Feiler and Zach Banner and safety Jordan Dangerfield, among others. It also has to decide whether to pick up an option year on tight end Vance McDonald at $5.5 million with a cap hit of $6.2 million.
The Steelers could place the franchise tag on Dupree, a designation that it could make starting Feb. 25. That would allow the Steelers additional time to continue negotiating with the 2015 first-round draft pick.
Dupree has 31.5 career sacks and also had a career-high 68 tackles in 2019, including a team-high 16 for a loss.
The Steelers picked up a fifth-year option on Dupree for 2019 at $9.2 million. The franchise tag salary for outside linebackers in 2019 was $15.2 million.
That could make things interesting for the Steelers, who currently have a little over $4 million in estimated cap space available for 2020, though that doesn't count the approximately $3 million they can roll over from this season.
That means the Steelers will have to make some difficult decisions in the coming months, though Tomlin is more concerned now with evaluating everything from the 2019 season, including himself.
"We endured a lot of adversity this season in a lot of ways, some of it created by the game, the natural attrition associated with play," Tomlin said. "Some of it was our doing; it always is. Hopefully we’ve learned from it in some way."
With the team not in the postseason for the second consecutive season, there will be time to figure those things out.
But this team also must figure out ways to get its house in order, as well, to create necessary cap space. Having traded its first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft to Miami in the deal for Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Steelers don't have a lot of draft capital to use on potential replacements. They won't make their first pick in the draft until the middle of the second round.
That means there will be some difficult discussions forthcoming with some veteran players and among the coaching staff.
Players such as guard Ramon Foster, McDonald and linebackers Anthony Chickillo and Mark Barron might find themselves cap casualties.
"I told all of these guys, they’re Steelers until they’re not," Tomlin said. "That’s been the message that I expressed to guys that I met with this morning. And I mean that. We appreciate what these guys put into it. We’re going to work to do business with them. The business will speak for itself whether the sides are able to come together."
LOLLEY'S VIEW
I fully expect the Steelers to place the franchise tag on Dupree to keep him in Pittsburgh through the 2020 season. They'll also have to pick up the fifth-year option on Watt, as well, for the 2021 season, so he'll be due a big raise.
That will give the team time to focus on finding a replacement for Dupree in the 2021 draft.
As Dupree told me in November, he would have no issue playing the 2020 season on the franchise tag, so he is amenable to coming back on a one-year deal.
Bringing back Hargrave and Finney while also making restricted offers to players such as Feiler and Banner is a must.
But that will lead to some tough decisions elsewhere on the roster. We'll be looking more in depth at those potential moves in the coming weeks.
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