New England Patriots: Kyle Dugger has breakout star written all over him
The New England Patriots aren’t exactly wowing the NFL when it comes to star power, but Bill Belichick has a lot of potential stars who can develop into the top players at their potential. One of those players is third-year safety Kyle Dugger.
A second-round pick in 2020 out of Lenoir-Rhyne University, the Division II star was one of those head-scratching draft selections by Belichick because of where he was taking in that draft, but the 26-year-old hard-hitting safety is proving the Patriots coach knew exactly what he was doing.
After making a Year 2 lead in 2021, Dugger was one of the team’s most reliable and dependable defensive playmakers, which sets up a breakout season in 2022 if he improves on his production in 2021. There is no reason he shouldn’t as Dugger is more than replaced what the team had in longtime safety Patrick Chung.
New England Patriots have a breakout star in safety Kyle Dugger
In spotlighting each team’s breakout candidate in 2022, Bleacher Report is certainly sipping the cool aid when it comes to the New England Patriots rising defensive star.
B/R’s Alex Kay writes in his article:
"“Dugger appeared in 15 games (including 13 starts) and amassed 92 tackles, five tackles for a loss, five pass defenses, four interceptions and a fumble recovery. PFF gave him a grade of 71.8, an improvement over the 64.1 he posted as a rookie.Dugger’s strength is clearly his tackling. He missed only 8.9 percent of his attempts this past year while recording at least five tackles in all but four of his 15 games. He appears to be more comfortable with his role and will rarely give up a big play now that he’s adapted to the pro game.”"
On a team committed to adding more speed and physicality to the defense, Kyle Dugger is really the anchor of that. While there are other breakout candidates on this Patriots squad, Dugger’s emergence is most important because not only has he filled the shoes of Chung, but he will also eventually have to fill the role of Devin McCourty when it comes to leadership in that defensive secondary and setting the tone.
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Speaking of the McCourty, the Patriots veteran safety has nothing but praise for his young predecessor. What does McCourty see in Dugger that translates into a future star in the making? Well, besides the hard work he puts in, McCourty sees within Dugger a player molding into a leader.
"“He wants to do the right things on the field, and I think that’s the recipe not only to be a good player – especially in this system to be one of the better safeties – but also to be the leader of this team and of the defense going forward,” McCourty said back in June, as transcribed by NESN. “Watching him develop and doing those things has been fun, and I can’t wait to see how he continues to develop in the future.”"
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New England Patriots fans are right there with you Devin. It will be fun to see Kyle Dugger get better and better each year and morph into the type of player Bill Belichick envisioned as a second-round pick.