Kyle Dugger’s contract situation hanging in limbo came to an end on Sunday with the starting safety agreeing to a massive four-year extension with the New England Patriots.
The deal has a base value of $58 million and can go up to $66 million. It contains $32.5 million in guarantees, which is the fifth-most guaranteed money for an NFL safety, per Over The Cap.
At $14.5 million annually, Dugger got a slight bump from the $13.8 million on his transition tag.
The move makes it a near clean sweep for the Patriots in retaining their in-house free agents. It’s also a solid deal for a player like Dugger, who has yet to make an All-Pro or Pro Bowl team in his career.
Make no mistake, he has been tremendously impactful in his role in the Patriots’ defensive backfield, but he has yet to break into that top-tier safety group in the NFL.
Of course, that hardly matters for what he’s meant to New England.
Dugger has stepped up as a leader for the team since Devin McCourty retired last year. The last thing the team wanted was losing McCourty and Dugger in back-to-back years. Dugger’s return should ensure the Patriots remain one of the top defensive units in the league in 2024.
Of course, it can’t answer for the many questions still remaining on the offensive side of the ball. The Patriots are still unsettled at quarterback, the offensive line is a disaster waiting to happen and the wide receiver position still lacks a true No. 1 target.
A better perspective would be considering Dugger’s long-term security clearing the road to a more offensive-focused draft for New England. There is no longer a need to focus on safety with considerations of how Dugger’s contract situation would unfold.
De facto general manager Eliot Wolf can now check that off the list and focus on bigger issues at hand.