Kyle Dugger reportedly agrees to 4-year deal to remain with Patriots
The deal is reportedly worth $58 million.
The Patriots and Kyle Dugger were able to come to a resolution on a long-term deal.
Dugger has agreed to a four-year, $58 million deal to remain with the Patriots, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported Sunday. The value has a max value of $66 million and includes $32.5 million guaranteed money, Rapoport added.
While the two sides have agreed to a multi-year deal, multiple reports in recent weeks stated Dugger was unhappy with New England placing the rarely used transition tag on him. It was speculated that Dugger could receive the franchise tag (valued at $17.1 million) before hitting free agency, but the Patriots gave him the less costly tag ($13.8 million).
Obviously, that decision didn’t come back to bite the Patriots in the end. Dugger will also receive a higher yearly salary than he would have on the transition tag, as his new deal has a $14.5 million average annual value.
With his new deal, Dugger has the sixth-largest contract value and the sixth-highest average annual value among all safeties in football, per OverTheCap.com.
Dugger has been one of the Patriots’ best defensive players since the team selected him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Mostly playing strong safety, Dugger’s tackle total has been top three on the team in each of the last three seasons. He also had two pick-sixes in the 2022 season.
Dugger, who turned 28 in late March, also played a little bit of free safety last season following the retirement of Devin McCourty. He recorded a career-high 109 combined tackles with two interceptions, a forced fumble, and 1.5 sacks.
“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,” new Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said in a statement when the team placed the transition tag on Dugger in March. “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.”
The Patriots, who entered free agency with over $100 million in cap space, have mostly used their available cap room to retain their top free agents. They re-signed Hunter Henry, Kendrick Bourne, Michael Onwenu, and Josh Uche, among others, in the opening week of free agency. Dugger was the last holdout out of the group.
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