New Tennessee Titans who could earn All-pro honors in their first season

Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Bud Dupree

Some of you will disagree with this one, and that’s fine. Some of you can make the argument that Bud Dupree has never earned an All-Pro nod or a Pro Bowl nod, and that would also be a very valid argument. Bud Dupree racked up 231 total tackles, 39.5 sacks, 11 pass breakups, and eight forced fumbles in six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers if you include what he did in the playoffs, but while that would be enough to garner the respect of most NFL pundits, Dupree’s situation is a little different.

We tend to punish him or minimize what he did because he played with great teammates in the Steel City, namely T.J. Watt. Only in Dupree’s world is playing with great players a flaw, but here’s what gets left out of that argument. Truthfully, there isn’t a ton of evidence that says Dupree can’t excel without Watt.

In the two seasons Bud played in Pittsburgh before Watt arrived, he played 51 percent of the defensive snaps in 2015 and 30 percent of the defensive snaps in 2016. The results were 50 total tackles, a forced fumble, two pass breakups, and 8.5 sacks over the course of 23 games.

He has some playmakers playing with him in Tennessee now, and he’ll probably be punished for that. Still, the exposure he’ll get on a good AFC contender and with three primetime games, he’ll have plenty of chances to prove his mettle to fans and coaches to earn a few more positive nods once it’s time to hand out those individual accolades.