Although no team has used it yet, the franchise label window opened a week ago and runs until March 9th. There are usually a lot of labeling activities as the deadline approaches.
The Pittsburgh Steelers labeled outside defender Bud Dupree on the 2020 deadline in hopes of finding a long-term deal. As we know, this did not happen and in all likelihood Dupree was with a different team in 2021.
Franchise label figures for each position are based on the 2021 salary cap and this final number is still unknown. Teams are said not to fall below $ 180 million (far from the $ 198.2 limit in 2020), so at this point they only estimate the assumption, which is why some teams are hesitant to use the tag. .
For OverTheCap, the value of the backback is expected to be $ 15.65 million and the value of the broad receiver, $ 16.43 million. If Pittsburgh marks Dupree for the second straight season, its figure will be considerably higher than the expected one-year bidding.
Clubs must pay 120% of the player’s previous salary to tag a player for two consecutive years. According to his $ 15.8 million 2020 salary, Dupree would be paid $ 18.96 million for a season.
Many clubs, including the Steelers, are in the red. They will be thrown until the last minute to meet the limit before the start of the new league year on March 17th. That’s not to say CEO Kevin Colbert and his staff were handing out, willingly or unwillingly, money left and right. Good teams will always face off because they pay the highest value for the best talent and often try to retain them. No one could have predicted that a global pandemic would send the limit in a spiral.
So, of Pittsburgh’s 25 outstanding free agents, who is most likely to receive the franchise label designation? There is no doubt that Dupree and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster are top-priority free agents the Steelers would maintain if they could.
If they could are the keywords here, because they seem to be he can not. “I would say it’s doubtful we’ll be able to use a label,” Colbert said in a recent call to the Pittsburgh media.
“Again, when we say we don’t know what the limit is, what we are trying to do is prepare for the worst situation. Right now, we know that the limit cannot go below $ 175 million based on the CBA. Therefore, we will always work with this mentality. We will play different scenarios and set up different scenarios in case that is what we are dealing with. “