With their top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots went the untraditional route by selecting Lenoir-Rhyne safety Kyle Dugger, a division II prospect.
New England took Dugger at 37th overall after trading back from 23rd overall in trade with the Los Angeles Chargers.
It’s further proof that Bill Belichick is obsessed — maybe too much so — with his defensive backs. Belichick has a history of taking defensive backs in the second round with varied success. It goes back to safeties Tavon Wilson, Jordan Richards and Duron Harmon and cornerbacks Ras-I Dowling, Cyrus Jones, Darius Butler and Terrance Wheatley. That’s not exactly flattering company for Dugger. But perhaps he’s a bit more promising and polished than most of those prospects were, when they came out of college.
It’s also important to note that, while he’s a DII product, he was pegged by a number of draft analysts to be a second-round prospect. (It’s not the same story for Wilson, Richards or Harmon.)
For one, Dugger is an impressive athlete, standing at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds while boasting a 42-inch vertical, a 4.5-second 40-yard dash and a 134-inch broad jump. Because of that, he seemed to have an unfair advantage at the DII level — as it should be for a pro prospect. He won the Cliff Harris Award, given to the best defensive player in DII. The Patriots will have to hope Dugger is equally dominant in the NFL. His path to the field isn’t likely to be immediate, with the exception of special teams. He’ll be in the mix to serve as the team’s punt returner while contributing on the coverage team.
As far as the safety position, however, Dugger is buried at the position behind Jason McCourty, Patrick Chung, Adrian Phillips, Terrance Brooks and Obi Melifonwu. It’s not unlike the team’s second-round pick last year, cornerback Joejuan Williams, who had to basically redshirt on defense. That might be a similar path for Dugger. That said, the Patriots will definitely need him in the coming years. Chung and McCourty are approaching 33 years old, and the team traded away Duron Harmon this offseason.
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