Patriots Sign Kyle Dugger To $58 Million Deal After Transition Tag

The New England Patriots have yet to complete their entire 2024 NFL roster, but they are definitely making some adjustments. Numerous reports confirmed that the Patriots have made a decision to sign Kyle Dugger to their team. Mike Garafolo and Eric Edholm from NFL Media reported that the Patriots and Dugger agreed to sign a four-year deal. He is no longer on the transition tag and the base value of his deal is $58 million. About $32.2 million come in guaranteed money. Rapoport added that the maximum value of Dugger’s contract may reach $66 million.

The Patriots cut ties with some of their players, but decided to keep their homegrown talent. Michael Onwenu, Anfernee Jennings, and Josh Uche re-signed with the team. Several analysts believed that Dugger won’t really stay with the team on the long run. It’s interesting to note that the two sides were unable to reach an agreement and the Patriots decided to use their transition tag. Things changed and Dugger has signed his deal.

Dugger earned his new contract with the Patriots

Transition tags come with specific rules. If Dugger signed an offer sheet with any other NFL teams and the Patriots declined to match this offer, they wouldn’t receive any draft pick compensation. NFL teams didn’t show great interest in Dugger, per Dan Duggan from The Athletic. New England had to increase the average annual value of Dugger’s deal ($14.5 million) to seal the deal. The value of the transition tag goes to $13.88 million.

Dugger ranks fifth in the current safety hierarchy in the NFL. He is a valuable player for the Patriots and they sure want to have the 28-year-old around for a while.

The talented safety was a full-time starter for most of the 2023 season. Dugger had nine interceptions and 20 passes defended. He has yet to earn Pro Bowl honors and Pro Football Focus wasn’t too kind about his performance this past season. PFF gave him a 50.0 coverage grade and Dugger ranked 68^th safety among 95 players.