You know how it goes when something bad is inevitable. You know it is coming so you do your best to prepare for it. But it still stings when it actually happens. The finality hurts.
So it is with Bud Dupree’s departure from the Steelers.
I was watching the Penguins beat the Boston Bruins on Monday night when news broke that Dupree had agreed to a big, new deal with the Tennessee Titans. That ruined the rest of the hockey game for me. I’m going to miss seeing Dupree play.
The Steelers will miss Dupree a lot more.
I can’t think of a more significant free agent loss since Hall of Famer Rod Woodson left after the 1996 season.
“Damn Tennessee just got a hell of a man in @Bud_Dupree,” Cam Heyward tweeted late Monday night. “Yall just don’t know how great he is!”
“A great player and an even better teammate!” T.J. Watt wrote on Twitter.
It’s fair to say everyone at Steelers headquarters is happy for Dupree. That includes Art Rooney II, Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin. They would have loved to have kept Dupree but couldn’t re-sign him because of their tight salary-cap situation. They have great respect for him as a player and a man. They have to be thrilled he struck it rich with the Titans. Spotrac.com reported his new deal is for five years and $82.5 million with $35 million guaranteed.
Good for Dupree.
The Steelers showed their faith in Dupree when they picked up his fifth-year option in 2019 for $9.2 million, doing so while taking severe criticism after he had an ordinary first four NFL seasons with 4, 4½, 6 and 5½ sacks. He responded with a big year that included 11½ sacks, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and 16 tackles for losses. He played the run as well as he rushed the passer.
Dupree then showed his respect for the organization after it put its franchise tag on him last season for $15.8 million. He didn’t balk at the tag the way a lot of players do. Remember Le’Veon Bell?
“It’s a business, but there’s no hard feelings on my part,” Dupree said at the time. “I love these boys, I love the staff, I love coach Tomlin like my own dad. I’d do anything for Coach T.”
The Steelers’ 2020 season was irrevocably damaged when Dupree went down with a knee injury late in the Baltimore game on Dec. 2. He had 8½ sacks at the time and was a huge part of their dominant defense. The team went on to win that day to go to 11-0.
Dupree’s injury happened on a second-and-10 play from the Ravens’ 28 with the Steelers leading comfortably, 19-7. Dupree started his pass rush toward quarterback Trace McSorley and was pushed innocently to the outside by left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Dupree’s right knee buckled and he went down in a heap, immediately pounding the ground with his right hand and kicking at the Heinz Field lawn with his left leg. His right ACL was torn.
“Everyone on the Steelers’ sideline was sickened by the sight,” I wrote that night.
Watt confirmed it after the game.
“That is my brother,” he tweeted, sadly.
It’s no coincidence that Tomlin was angrier after that game than he had ever been. That was the night he described the Steelers’ play as, “Us sucking.” An 11-0 record never felt so bad. It’s true, the Steelers played a lousy game against a Ravens team that was ravaged by COVID-19, but there was much more to Tomlin’s dismay. He knew the team’s perfect season was in serious jeopardy because of Dupree’s injury.
Tomlin was right.
The Steelers lost four of their final five games to finish the regular season, then were embarrassed by the Cleveland Browns at home in their first playoff game.
What a horrible way for Dupree’s time with the Steelers to end.
Rookie Alex Highsmith took over for Dupree last season and did a decent job. He’ll be the man in that outside linebacker spot next season, opposite Watt. But he’s no Dupree. Few edge rushers are.
Ask Watt, who gives a lot of credit for his defensive player of the year-caliber play the past two seasons to Dupree being on the other side of the defense.
“I am going to miss our picnics in the backfield,” he tweeted Monday night.
I can relate to that.
I am going to miss watching Watt and Dupree have quarterbacks for lunch.
