Buoyed by $9.2 million option, Steelers' Bud Dupree aims for status as a 'top' NFL OLB
Bud Dupree is expecting to be considered among "the top of the conversation of everybody at the outside linebacker position" in the NFL.
By the team's actions, the Steelers are expecting that, too.
After the first team practice since the Steelers picked up his $9.232 million option for 2019, Dupree said he is out to live up to the standard such a salary represents.
"I just want to be the best I can be at my position," Dupree said after the Steelers' first organized team activity workout Tuesday, "No matter what I have to do, I have to compete with everybody at the top. And if I just be myself and work like I know how, I can be."
Linebacker Bud Dupree's prints all over the Steelers' pass rush, writes @KGorman_Trib > https://t.co/BY1syMBzcd pic.twitter.com/9lE04Zlvcf
" Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) October 8, 2017
Dupree has 141⁄2 sacks in 38 games since he was a first-round pick in 2015. He has been an every-down player over the past 11⁄2 seasons when healthy, but to mixed reviews. Pro Football Focus, for example, rated Dupree 98th among 106 NFL edge rushers in 2017.
So exercising the fifth-year option on Dupree was no slam dunk. Two years prior, for example, the Steelers declined the fifth-year option on 2013 first-round pick Jarvis Jones, who played the same position.
Under the NFL/NFLPA collective bargaining agreement, first-round picks sign four-year contracts with a fifth-year team option (guaranteed only for injury) at a significant raise to be exercised by the spring before the player's fourth season.
"It's definitely on my mind," Dupree said in January, the day after the AFC divisional round loss to Jacksonville.
That's what made the Steelers' April 23 decision such a relief to Dupree, who had not been available to the media until Tuesday.
"Definitely, it was good to know they see on film what I can do, and they know me personally and how hard I work," said Dupree, who will make almost $1.7 million in 2018 on the final season of his rookie contract. "It's great to know that they believe in me."
Just 25 years old, Dupree suddenly has become the most tenured NFL player among the Steelers' outside linebackers. Including the inside linebackers, only Vince Williams has a longer tenure with the Steelers among the 13 linebackers on the camp roster.
"I'm not a rookie anymore," Dupree said. "I know I have to be somebody guys can look up to."
During 11-on-11 drills while the first-team defense was on the field Tuesday, Dupree was on the right side instead of the left side he has rushed from most of his career. He said that is not necessarily a sign of things to come, though.
"It's just, we are going to be playing both sides, so we've just got to get used to work on both sides and now is the perfect time right now to go on the side you (aren't typically) on and just fine-tune your skills," he said. "When training camp comes around, season comes around, you know at some point you will be asked to move around.
"(But) in the games, I probably still will be left. It's just a matter of being able to play left and right instead of being stagnant running the same thing."
Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
