Are you over the Pittsburgh Steelers not trading for a cornerback by the Tuesday afternoon deadline? Hopefully most of you are and so I thought now would be a great time to discuss some things related to the first-round of the 2015 NFL Draft as a result of one player from that list being dealt on Tuesday.
Thanks to a Tuesday afternoon tweet by Andrew Siciliano of the NFL Network, we can now see that 11 of the 32 players selected in the first-round of the 2015 NFL Draft have either now been released or traded by their original team.
On Tuesday, defensive end Dante Fowler had his name added to that list as the Jacksonville Jaguars traded him to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2019 NFL Draft and a fifth-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Last week, we also saw the name of wide receiver Amari Cooper added to that list thanks to the Oakland Raiders trading him to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Below is a quick table that features a recap of all 32 players selected in the first-round of the 2015 NFL Draft in addition to a quick note on each as it relates to their current statuses.
| Pick # | Team Drafted By | Current Team | Player | Pos. | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buccaneers | Buccaneers | Jameis Winston | QB | Backup as of this week |
| 2 | Titans | Titans | Marcus Mariota | QB | Has had better stats of seasons |
| 3 | Jaguars | Rams | Dante Fowler | DE | Traded to Rams Tuesday with 14 career sacks & no 5th-year option |
| 4 | Raiders | Cowboys | Amari Cooper | WR | Traded to Cowboys a few weeks ago |
| 5 | Redskins | Redskins | Brandon Scherff | T | Pro Bowler & 5th-year option picked up |
| 6 | Jets | Jets | Leonard Williams | DE | 15 career sacks & 5th-year option picked up |
| 7 | Bears | Bears | Kevin White | WR | Injured a lot & 24 receptions for career |
| 8 | Falcons | Falcons | Vic Beasley | DE | Good pass rusher |
| 9 | Giants | Jaguars | Ereck Flowers | T | Huge disappointment |
| 10 | Rams | Rams | Todd Gurley | RB | Stud RB |
| 11 | Vikings | Vikings | Trae Waynes | CB | 6 INTs to date & 5th-year option picked up |
| 12 | Browns | Patriots | Danny Shelton | DT | Bit player with Pats and 5th-year option declined |
| 13 | Saints | Saints | Andrus Peat | T | 37 starts to date & 5th-year option picked up |
| 14 | Dolphins | Dolphins | DeVante Parker | WR | Disappointing overall & likely not seeing 5th-year option |
| 15 | Chargers | Chargers | Melvin Gordon | RB | Good RB & 5th-year option picked up |
| 16 | Texans | Texans | Kevin Johnson | CB | On IR with 18 career starts and 1 INT |
| 17 | 49ers | 49ers | Arik Armstead | DE | 8 career sacks and 5th-year option picked up |
| 18 | Chiefs | Rams | Marcus Peters | CB | 20 career INTs to date & 5th-year option picked up |
| 19 | Browns | Chiefs | Cameron Erving | C | Traded to Chiefs and 5th-year option declined |
| 20 | Eagles | Eagles | Nelson Agholor | WR | No.2 WR type had 5th-year option picked up |
| 21 | Bengals | Bengals | Cedric Ogbuehi | OT | Backup and 5th-year option not picked up |
| 22 | Steelers | Steelers | Bud Dupree | OLB | 31 career starts with 16.5 sacks & had 5th-year option picked up |
| 23 | Broncos | Broncos | Shane Ray | DE | 14 career sacks & 5th-year option declined |
| 24 | Cardinals | Cardinals | D. J. Humphries | OT | Only 18 starts to date but had 5th-year option picked up |
| 25 | Panthers | Panthers | Shaq Thompson | OLB | Not a star but consistent &had 5th-year option picked up |
| 26 | Ravens | Browns | Breshad Perriman | WR | Huge bust with Ravens now with Browns |
| 27 | Cowboys | Cowboys | Byron Jones | CB | 2 career INTs to date but had 5th-year option picked up |
| 28 | Lions | Lions | Laken Tomlinson | G | Traded to 49ers but 5th-year option declined |
| 29 | Colts | Patriots | Phillip Dorsett | WR | Bit player with Pats & 5th-year option declined |
| 30 | Packers | Browns | Damarious Randall | S | Traded to Browns |
| 31 | Saints | Dolphins | Stephone Anthony | LB | Traded to Miami & now a backup |
| 32 | Patriots | Patriots | Malcom Brown | DT | Bit player with Pats & 5th-year option declined |
While I’ve never been a big fan of Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree since he entered the league in 2015 as the 22nd overall selection, his current status midway through the 2018 regular season certainly makes him look quite a bit better than most of the 10 players who were selected after he was in the first-round. In fact, only Cowboys defensive back Byron Jones looks to be maybe a player drafted after Dupree was that a Steelers fan would probably want starting in Pittsburgh right now.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert has certainly received a lot of flack for the drafting of Dupree over the years and based on how the Kentucky product played in his first three seasons in the NFL, that’s understandable. However, while Dupree is far from being a first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl type player, at least he’s still starting and somewhat contributing on defense. In fact, Dupree’s Sunday showing against the Browns wasn’t very bad at all and included him forcing a hold on him in the end zone for a safety.
Surprisingly, Dupree enters Week 9 of the 2018 regular season as the Steelers team-leader in total quarterback pressures with 26, according to Pro Football Focus, and that ties him for 29th overall league-wide. Sure, his pass rushing efforts still aren’t very pretty most of the time, but at least he’s getting some quarterback pressure now more consistently now that he’s lining up on the right side, even though that’s a very subjective and disputable stat.
When you look at where Dupree is now compared to the the 10 players selected immediately after him in the 2015 NFL Draft, are you still overly disappointed with the Steelers picking him where they did? Sure, I know most of you think the Steelers should have traded up for either Trae Waynes or Marcus Peters that year, but it just didn’t happen. Also, could you really see the Steelers trading up for a player such as Peters and his background at that time? As good as he was upon entering the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs tired of his act quickly and shipped him off to the Rams this past March.
Below is a quick recap of the players drafted 33rd to 50th overall in 2015. How many of them would you rather have than Dupree right now?
Landon Collins
Donovan Smith
Mario Edwards Jr.
T. J. Yeldon
Devin Smith
Preston Smith
Eddie Goldman
Dorial Green-Beckham
Devin Funchess
Jalen Collins
Benardrick McKinney
Hau’oli Kikaha
Eric Kendricks
Jaquiski Tartt
Eric Rowe
Denzel Perryman
Mitch Morse
Ronald Darby
