The Steelers now know the official amount they will have to clear after tagging Bud Dupree

This 2020 offseason has been an odd one for the NFL and their organizations. With the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in flux for the majority of the time between the Super Bowl and the new league year, a lot of factors were unknowns before the NFLPA passed the new CBA Sunday.

One of those questions was just how much ‘tagged’ players would be making on specific tags. Once the new salary cap was locked in at $198.2 million dollars, many started to speculate how much it would cost to put the tag on a specific player.

The cost depends on the position, and as it pertains to the Pittsburgh Steelers putting the franchise tag on Bud Dupree, they now know how much they will have to clear in space before the new league year starts on the 18th.

This from NFL Network’s Albert Breer:

As of last year, it was expected the team would have to free up roughly $16.2 million dollars in cap space to retain Dupree’s services for 2020 but per Breer, who cites a league memo, the actual cost is $15.8 million dollars.

A huge savings? No. But considering the Steelers were officially over the cap heading into Monday morning, any amount of money saved, even if just $400k, is welcome.

The Steelers have already started the purge of contracts to facilitate Dupree’s new price tag, and it started with OLB Anthony Chickillo. Chickillo is reportedly the first to go, and would save the Steelers roughly $5 million dollars towards the team’s cap in 2020.

This is just the beginning, so stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and notes surrounding the black-and-gold as the free agent frenzy is just getting started.