Patriots Take First Step Toward Keeping Kyle Dugger

On Tuesday afternoon, the New England Patriots placed the transition tag on 27-year-old safety Kyle Dugger. By doing so, the Patriots can match any contract offer from a competing franchise.

The transition tag amount for Dugger is $13.81 million, which is certainly more financially incentivizing for New England than the franchise tag amount, which would cost the Patriots in excess of $17 million.

Speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine on Feb. 27, head player personnel executive Eliot Wolf confirmed that the team had held contract talks with Dugger. Clearly those contract talks did not yield any substantial progress, as both the franchise and transition tags tend to be utilized as a franchise's last resort for retaining young talent.

Notably, New England would not receive any draft pick compensation should another team offer Dugger and the Patriots choose not to match said contract offer. Dugger was Pro Football Focus' 20-best ranked free agent, so there is a very real possibility that other teams come calling.

Over the past few years of the Bill Belichick regime, the Patriots were frequently chastized for their poor drafting record. New England has not signed a player that they drafted in the first three rounds to a second contract since 2013. Dugger was drafted in the second round in 2020 out of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne.

The safety was a steady presence in the Patriots' secondary in 2023, taking the field for 98 percent of the team's defensive snaps and racking up 109 tackles with two interceptions and a forced fumble.

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