FOXBOROUGH – It’s been tough to watch how far Kyle Dugger has fallen on the Patriots’ depth chart.
The veteran safety has not been part of the Patriots’ starting secondary in weeks and played the entire second half last weekend in Minnesota. In Monday’s practice, Dugger was playing with the scout-team defense while the starters were on the other field with the scout team offense.
It was quite the contrast to see Dugger in a secondary featuring Brenden Schooler at safety and Brandon Crossly and Tre Avery at cornerback. Before practice, Eliot Wolf said he still sees a role for Dugger in New England.
“Yeah, I think there’s still a role,” Wolf said. “It’s about trying to find the right combination and earn a role. The safety position is a lot based on communication, and so, getting Craig (Woodson), who’s a rookie out there, with different combinations of people is also something we’re looking at as well.”
Drafted in the second round, 37th overall, in 2020, Dugger has started 65 of 74 games played in New England. He has started every game played over the last three seasons. Last year, the Patriots signed Dugger to a 4-year, $58 million contract with $32.5 million in guaranteed money.
According to Overthecap.com, the Patriots would be hit with $14.25 million in dead money if they released Dugger. If the team were to trade Dugger, they’d be hit with $4.5 million of dead money, but save $10.76 million off the cap.
After Monday’s practice, Jabrill Peppers noted that Dugger is coming off a tough ankle injury, which limited him last season.
“He understands. It’s his process,” Peppers said. “He’s coming back from an ankle injury. He has to do what he has to do. I’m not worried about that.”
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