While no team has used it yet, the franchise tag window opened a week ago and will run through March 9. In general, there is a surge of tagging activity as the deadline approaches.
The Pittsburgh Steelers tagged outside linebacker Bud Dupree on deadline day in 2020 hoping to work out a long-term deal. As we know, that didn’t happen, and in all likelihood, Dupree will be working with a different team in 2021.
The franchise tag numbers for each position are based on the 2021 salary cap, and the latter number is still unknown. Teams are told it won’t drop below $ 180 million – a long way from the $ 198.2 limit in 2020 – so they’re really only guessing at this point, which may be why some teams are hesitant about the tag to use.
Per OverTheCap, the linebacker value is expected to be $ 15.65 million and the broad receiver value is $ 16.43 million. If Pittsburgh tags Dupree for the second consecutive season, his figure will be significantly higher than the projected one-year tender.
Clubs must pay 120 percent of the player’s previous salary to tag a player for two consecutive years. Based on his salary of $ 15.8 million in 2020, Dupree would be paid $ 18.96 million for one season.
Many clubs, including the Steelers, are in red. They scramble to the last hour to meet the March 17 limit of the new competition year. This is not to say that CEO Kevin Colbert and his staff were all knowingly handing out money left and right. Good teams will always run into it because they pay top talent their worth and often try to hold on to them. No one could have predicted that a global pandemic would spiral the shell.
So, of the 25 free agents in Pittsburgh, who is most likely to get the franchise tag designation? There is no doubt that Dupree and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster are top priority free agents the Steelers would keep if they could.
If they could are the keywords here – because it looks like they are can not“I would say it is doubtful we will be able to use a tag,” Colbert said in a recent phone call to Pittsburgh media.
“Again, when we say we don’t know what the limit is, we’re trying to prepare for the worst situation. At this point, we know that the limit cannot fall below $ 175 million based on the CBA. So we will always work in that mindset. We will play different scenarios and put together different scenarios in case that’s what we’re dealing with. “