Bud Dupree's up-and-down training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers took a turn for the better in Sunday's 24-19 preseason win over the Green Bay Packers.
The first-round pass rusher was a core contributor, making a solo stop against the run, picking up a sack -- a second was wiped out by penalty -- and playing part in this crushing safety below of quarterback Aaron Rodgers:
"He got home some,"Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said after the game, per the team's official website. "I will look at the details and evaluate the tape, but he was obviously in the backfield some. That's why you take guys in the first round at that position. You expect them to be in the backfield."
Dupree desperately needed to produce some positive tape after a camp that's seen the former Kentucky star scuffle with his teammates and fail to record a hit on the quarterback prior to Sunday.
"He's a guy who's getting better every day and bringing a little edge to him," Steelers tackle Marcus Gilbert said last week, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "That's what we like to see, obviously not the fighting but bringing the nastiness to his position. He's just going to get better every day."
Both Dupree and Jarvis Jones -- who recorded a sack of his own against Green Bay -- are in a fight to win outside linebacker snaps ahead of veterans James Harrison and Arthur Moats. On a defense with a flock of fresh faces, the Steelers would love to rely on Dupree to create regular chaos in the pocket. Sunday served as a good starting point.
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