Patriots’ Coach Doesn’t Hold Back On Safety Kyle Dugger

The New England Patriots used their transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger on Tuesday, which will allow the Patriots to match any offer sheets made by another team.

That is the key difference between the transition tag and a franchise tag: on a transition tag, the player can still negotiate with other teams, but the club who tagged him has the opportunity to match any offers.

Otherwise, the tag will simply keep Dugger with the Patriots through at least 2024, and New England will still have a chance to strike a long-term deal with him.

Pats head coach Jerod Mayo raved about Dugger in a statement, saying that the value he provides goes beyond his on-field production.

“Kyle is a talented player with a strong work ethic who has improved every year and been extremely productive since joining our team in 2020,” Mayo said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “We value players with high character and chose to use the transition designation to give both sides more time to try to reach a long-term agreement, which is our goal with Kyle.”

Dugger is coming off of an impressive 2023 campaign in which he played every game and racked up 109 tackles, 1.5 sacks, a couple of interceptions, a forced fumble and seven passes defended.

The 27-year-old, who played his collegiate football at Lenoir-Rhyne, was selected by the Patriots in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

He appeared in 14 contests during his rookie year, logging 64 tackles. The following year, Dugger showed significant improvement, rattling off 92 tackles, four picks, a fumble recovery and five passes defended. He then registered 78 tackles, a sack, three interceptions, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, eight passes defended and a hefty three defensive touchdowns in 2022.

Dugger has been a key member of New England’s secondary since entering the league, so it’s no surprise that Mayo wants to keep him around.

We’ll see if the Pats can reach a multi-year agreement with Dugger in the coming weeks and months.

Should Kyle Dugger remain on the transition tag, he will earn just under $14 million in 2024.