{"id":104927,"date":"2021-02-26T02:31:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T07:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=104927"},"modified":"2021-03-15T20:35:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T00:35:39","slug":"bud-dupree-signs-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/02\/26\/bud-dupree-signs-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Bud Dupree Signs Contract With Tennessee Titans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Free agent outside linebacker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/D\/DuprAl00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bud Dupree<\/a> has signed a new contract with the Tennessee Titans. This deal removes one of the top edge pass rushers off the open market.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Titans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Titans<\/a> are in fact signing former <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Steelers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Steelers<\/a> pass-rusher Bud Dupree, sources tell me and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomPelissero?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TomPelissero<\/a>. Another top edge off the market.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RapSheet\/status\/1371620776722456581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 16, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Bud Dupree, Tennessee Titans, Agree to Contract<\/h2>\n<p>The agreement comes while Dupree is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/steelers-lb-bud-dupree-out-for-season-with-torn-acl\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rehabilitating from surgery<\/a> to repair a torn ACL which occurred in a Week 11 contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars last season. Several media outlets have reported that Dupree\u2019s rehab is ahead of schedule and he should be a full participant at training camp this summer.<\/p>\n<p>The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Dupree out of Kentucky with their 2015 first round draft pick. At first, he had a very up-and-down start to his professional career, but that all changed in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Dupree had a breakout campaign as he recorded 11.5 sacks, 68 tackles and forced four fumbles in 16 games. The talented edge pass rusher was on the pace for another outstanding season in 2020. Through 11 games, Dupree was creating havoc in opponent\u2019s backfield with eight sacks and two forced fumbles before his season was cut short due to the ACL tear. How dominant had Dupree become? Well, Dupree&#8217;s sacks (19.5) for 2019-20 almost equaled the career total (20) of his first four seasons in the NFL.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/coaches\/TomlMi0.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Tomlin<\/a> believes Dupree\u2019s continuous drive to be the best has been aided by his own personal evolution in the sport. The time was right for Dupree to take his play\u00a0to the next level. Tomlin made these remarks in an interview with Penn Live.<\/p>\n<p>Dupree has developed a great partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WattT.00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">T.J. Watt<\/a> over the last two seasons. Together, they have combined for 49 sacks and become one of the top edge pass rush duos in the NFL. Not surprising, the Steelers were <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/11\/24\/pittsburgh-steelers-defense-leading-nfl-in-numerous-categories\/\" target=\"_self\">a top five defensive unit<\/a> over the same period.<\/p>\n<p>Despite all of the unknowns associated with an ACL tear, it should not take Dupree long to regain his pass rushing skills once he is given clearance to return to team activities. The injury should not limit his ability to become one of the league&#8217;s top pass rushers in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"elukoI-1QhFLT9tYvtlvSA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1288659584\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'elukoI-1QhFLT9tYvtlvSA',sig:'u_PQ2_eiIiAZxdO0_GW5WxuBc6ihkWKRwJSrsbY6ltE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1288659584',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Free agent outside linebacker Bud Dupree has signed a new contract with the Tennessee Titans. This deal removes one of the top edge pass rushers off the open market. The #Titans are in fact signing former #Steelers pass-rusher Bud Dupree, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. Another top edge off the market. &mdash; Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2802,"featured_media":105122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"Bud Dupree free agent stub","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"300","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,54],"tags":[103,1608,7366],"class_list":["post-104927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-steelers","category-editorials","tag-bud-dupree","tag-nfl-free-agency","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}