Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images
Previewing the Patriots safety heading into his sixth season with the team.
Mike Vrabel’s efforts to revitalize the
New England Patriots from a cultural perspective led some significant personnel turnover. Longtime franchise cornerstones such as David Andrews, Ja’Whaun Bentley and Joe Cardona were released, while others like Deatrich Wise Jr. and Jonathan Jones were not retained in free agency.
As a consequence, the “old guard” looks quite a bit different now. The oldest among them, at least in terms of tenure, is Kyle Dugger.
Hard facts
Name: Kyle Dugger
Position: Safety
Jersey number: 23
Opening day age: 29 (3/22/1996)
Measurements: 6’0 7/8”, 216 lbs, 32 7/8” arm length, 10 3/8” hand size, 4.49s 40-yard dash, 42” vertical jump, 11’2” broad jump, 17 bench press reps, 9.56 Relative Athletic Score
Experience
NFL: New England Patriots (2020-) |
College: Lenoir-Rhyne (2014-19)
A three-sport athlete at Whitewater High School in Fayetteville, GA, Dugger was a relatively late bloomer as far as his football career was concerned. As a result, he went largely overlooked heading toward college and ended up getting only three scholarship offers: he opted for Lenoir-Rhyne over Berry College and Reinhardt University, and ended up spending his entire six-year college career as a Bear.
In those six years, Dugger saw action in 42 games and became one of the best players in Division II. A versatile defensive back and prolific returner, he ended up receiving first-team All-SAC recognition twice and in 2019 was the recipient of the Cliff Harris Award honoring the best small school defender in the country.
Due to his success, Dugger heard his name called 37th overall in the NFL’s virtual 2020 draft. Despite missing a traditional pre-season preparation due to the league’s Covid-19 restrictions, he still made an immediate impact for the Patriots and ended up starting seven games as a rookie. He never looked back and over the four years since has become a foundational player for the organization — one awarded with a four-year, $58 million contract extension in 2024.
New England opting to lock up Dugger long term was no surprise given his importance to the operation and ability to contribute in a positive fashion. Appearing in a combined 75 regular season and playoff games since joining the team, he played almost 4,000 defensive snaps and registered 10 takeaways, three of which returned for touchdowns. He also served as on-field signal caller and was named a captain during the 2024 season.
Scouting report
Strengths: Standing at 6-foot-1 and 216 pounds, Dugger is a well-built player who offers an intriguing combination of size and athleticism. He has the speed and burst to be an impact player regardless of alignment, which has allowed him to play all over the defense: he is rangy enough to play deep in one- or two-high shells and physical enough to hold his own closer to the line of scrimmage. A “lead by example” player, he also is an experienced communicator linking the second and third levels of the Patriots defense.
Dugger’s play strength and aggressiveness are among his best attributes, particularly versus the run. He can get off blocks and delivers the boom as a tackler, and also is competitive against tight ends in coverage. He has shown some sound tackling form in the past (even though an ankle injury caused some issues in that regard in 2024) and also has some good ball skills as well as the length to be disruptive at the catch point or take advantage of off-target throws; his nine career interceptions did not happen by accident.
Weaknesses: Dugger can be a boom-or-bust player. His route recognition and patience in both man and zone coverage can be lacking at times, as can be his discipline in 1-on-1 coverage: while he can run with players, he tends to lose track of his assignments on occasion. His natural aggressiveness can also be a double-edged sword, leading to some questionable attack angles as well as making him susceptible to misdirection.
If put in such situations, he lacks the lower-body fluidity to recover — something that can also negatively impact his effectiveness as a deep-field safety. While versatile in theory, Dugger has been at his best when playing closer to the line of scrimmage. In addition, he has had injury woes throughout his career and has managed to play every game in just one of his five NFL seasons (2023).
2024 review
Stats: 13 games (13 starts) | 759 defensive snaps (67.9%), 26 special teams snaps (6.0%) | 79 tackles, 13 missed tackles (14.1%), 8 TFLs, 1 forced fumble | 46 targets, 36 catches allowed (78.3%), 387 yards, 6 TDs | 7 quarterback pressures (1 sack, 6 hurries) | 2 special teams tackles | 3 penalties
Season recap: Coming off the best season of his career, the Patriots left no doubt that they wanted to keep Dugger around for the foreseeable future. To do so, they first used the franchise tag to prevent him from entering unrestricted free agency. A month later, the two sides reached an agreement on the aforementioned four-year, $58 million contract extension through the 2027 season.
He failed to live up to his price tag in 2024.
Even though Dugger finished the season as the Patriots’ top safety in terms of snaps (759) and tackles (79), and ranked first on the team overall in tackles for loss (8), he was unable to duplicate the success he enjoyed the previous year. There were three main areas of concern: tackling, communication, and mental errors — all areas a player of his experience and stature, let alone compensation, should excel in.
Dugger, however, had a rough overall campaign. He frequently found himself out of position, took questionable angles, and at times looked physically outmatched. The latter can be explained by a nagging ankle injury that bothered him for most of the year.
The veteran first popped up on the injury report leading up to the Patriots’ Week 2 game against the
Seattle Seahawks. He ended up playing all 70 defensive snaps during that contest, but the issue worsened after he twisted his ankle in Week 4 versus the
San Francisco 49ers. That setback forced him to sit out the following week’s game against Miami, and he later also missed three straight contests between Weeks 8 and 10.
Even after his return, he remained on the injury report for the rest of the season. Dugger underwent surgery on the issue in January, when it was revealed that the injury started out as a mild sprain that later developed into a bone bruise.
Whether or not his ankle contributed to some of Dugger’s other issues is merely speculation. Fact is, however, that the issue in combination with other factors beyond his control — from a coaching change to other starting defenders missing significant time — made for a challenging setup.
Even so, Dugger still had his moments. He looked good in his lone game before his ankle injury (his lone forced fumble came in that one), showed his trademark aggressiveness on several tackle attempts throughout the year, and was named a replacement captain after Ja’Whaun Bentley and Jabrill Peppers became unavailable.
On the whole, however, his 2024 season was far too inconsistent for his standards and the team’s expectation.
2025 preview
Position: Multiple safety |
Ability: High quality starter |
Contract: Signed through 2027
What will be his role? Dugger has been a jack of all trades in the Patriots secondary ever since joining the team as a second-round draft pick in 2020. His versatility will remain an asset for the team’s new coaching staff, but it is also true that the 29-year-old is more naturally suited to play in the box as a safety/linebacker hybrid. Ideally, he will spend a majority of his snaps in 2025 in that role as one of New England’s starting safeties.
If Terrell Williams uses Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers like his Lions used Brian Branch (#32), quarterbacks should be very afraid
pic.twitter.com/QwBTLUejMZ
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39)
March 16, 2025
What is his growth potential? Even though he is already 29 and a veteran of five NFL seasons, Dugger still has some room for growth from a consistency perspective and as far as his read-and-react skills are concerned. If he can improve in those areas while also putting his nagging ankle issue behind him, he should at least be able to return to his 2023 level of play (he was one of the most impactful safeties in the entire league back then).
Does he have positional versatility? As noted above, Dugger is a more natural fit as box safety rather than a classic centerfielder at the position. That said, he has shown that he can adequately execute assignments like that as well. In addition, he has also played almost 600 kicking game snaps over the course of his career. While it might be best to limit his exposure in the game’s third phase due to his injury history and importance to the defensive operation, he can fill in on special teams if need be.
What is his salary cap situation? As part of the contract extension he signed with the Patriots in 2024, Dugger is carrying a $15.265 million cap hit — second on the team and fifth among all safeties in the NFL. The number itself consists of a fully-guaranteed base salary ($9.75M) and signing bonus proration ($4.5M) as well as per-game roster bonuses ($1M, including $765K classified likely to be earned) and a workout bonus ($250K).
How safe is his roster spot? Despite his 2024 campaign being a disappointment, Dugger’s contract makes him a lock to be on the team this fall. There are some semi-realistic exceptions — he either gets traded or starts the year on the physically unable to perform list — but those do not come into play under normal circumstances.
Summary: Although his roster spot for the upcoming season is essentially secure, Dugger is under quite a bit of pressure in 2025. Not only is he coming off an underwhelming year by his capabilities and price tag, he also is part of the roster’s pre-Mike Vrabel holdovers and has a contract that is easier to discard next offseason. A significant bounceback will be necessary for those discussions not to kick off in 2026.
What do you think about Kyle Dugger heading into the 2025 season? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.
