PITTSBURGH -- Outside linebacker Bud Dupree wants to be a Steeler. The Pittsburgh Steelers want Dupree to remain a Steeler, too.

To make that happen with their cap constraints this year, the Steelers’ will likely have to apply a tag (franchise or transition) on the unrestricted free agent by the time the franchise tagging window closes Monday morning.

“Bud created a great decision for us because he had a great season,” general manager Kevin Colbert said at the NFL combine last month. “That’s exciting. Where we go with that, who knows. He’s getting a feel for what a market would be, we’re getting a feel for what a market would be. We’re getting a feel for what our cap would be. We don’t know. We love having that option [the tag] available to us. We want Bud Dupree to finish his career as a Pittsburgh Steeler.”

Dupree said much of the same at the conclusion of the regular season.

"You always want to finish what you start," he said after the loss to the Ravens. "That lets you know you had a good career. And a way to let people know who believe in you."

Though the Steelers’ recent history with applying the tag might suggest otherwise, Colbert told reporters in Indianapolis he isn’t worried about mixed outcomes from previous tags affecting their decision on Dupree. The Steelers, of course, tagged running back Le'Veon Bell in consecutive seasons after failing to reach a long-term agreement in 2017.

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Estimates on OverTheCap.com for the 2020 franchise tags project linebackers to cost about $16.2 million. A non-exclusive franchise tag allows other teams to negotiate deals with Dupree, while also allowing the Steelers a chance to match the offer. If the Steelers don’t match, they receive two first-round picks in compensation. An exclusive franchise tag, like the one used on Bell, allows only the Steelers to negotiate with Dupree.

Under a transition tag, which stipulates that the team wouldn’t receive any compensation if it doesn’t match an offer from another team, a linebacker would run about $14 million. The tag gives the team until July 15 to reach a long-term deal with Dupree. If the two sides don’t reach a deal by then, Dupree would play the season under the tag before becoming a free agent again next year. The Steelers could also opt to tag and trade Dupree in a move similar to the one made by the Kansas City Chiefs when they tagged Dee Ford a season ago and promptly traded him to the San Francisco 49ers.

The Steelers have applied a tag 10 other times and have had mixed results with the process. Four tags resulted in long-term deals, though only one -- safety Carnell Lake -- played out his contract. The other six kept the player in a Steelers uniform for a maximum of one season. Kicker Jeff Reed, tagged prior to the 2010 season, was even cut midway through his franchise-tag season.

In 2017, Bell played under the tag with a $12.12 million value after he declined the Steelers’ offer worth $42 million over the first three years. A year later, he was tagged again, but refused to sign the $14.54 million tender after the two sides again didn’t agree to a long-term deal by the deadline, and he sat out the entire season.

Dupree, who previously indicated he would sign the tag if the Steelers use it, would become the fourth outside linebacker to be tagged by the organization. The Steelers, though, haven’t had sustained success with the tagged outside linebackers. Two inked long-term deals but didn’t play out their contracts, and the other played one year under the tag before retiring.

The Steelers placed a tag on an outside linebacker in 2014: Jason Worilds, whose deal was worth $9.754 million. The club opted not to extend him, and he retired in March 2015. Outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley also received the tag in 2011. The Steelers signed him to a six-year $61.5 million contract with a $13 million signing bonus, but injuries kept him from finishing the contract. He was released in March 2014 after three seasons and two contract restructures to alleviate the Steelers’ tight cap. Jason Gildon was tagged in 2002 before he got a five-year, $23 million contract with a $6.5 million signing bonus. Gildon, though, only played two years of that deal before he was cut following a below-average 2003 season.

Coming off his best season with 11.5 sacks and four forced fumbles, Dupree would undoubtedly fetch a high asking price on the open market -- one certainly out of the Steelers’ price range. The only way to keep him around would be to apply the tag, and if the two sides work out a long-term deal, it would likely need to be structured in a way that balances his cap hit with those of Ben Roethlisberger’s and the impending deal coming to fellow outside linebacker T.J. Watt. And no matter what, retaining Dupree for any length of time would also require the Steelers to release some expensive veterans to free cap space by the start of the league year at 4 p.m. on March 18.

Complicating this year’s tag decision is the process of ratifying the new CBA. The proposal is currently being put to a vote among all union membership, but the results of that won’t be known until at least Saturday at midnight. And while the Steelers have projections for the cap number and how much space they’ll have, they won’t know a concrete figure before then. For a team with so little cap space -- $1.7 million as of Monday afternoon -- that’s an important figure. It could be the difference in allowing Dupree to play the 2020 season on the tag and giving him a long-term contract that would keep him with the team beyond this season.

“Make no mistake,” coach Mike Tomlin said in December, “Bud Dupree is a priority for us.”