Sources – Patriots and Kyle Dugger conform to four-year, $58 million deal

• Mike Reiss, ESPN staff writerApril 7, 2024, 9:28 a.m. ET

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  Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter for ESPN covering the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.

The New England Patriots and safety Kyle Dugger have agreed to a four-year extension, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

The contract has a base value of $58 million and can be worth up to $66 million and includes a guarantee of $32 million, the sources said.

Dugger's new deal has an average annual value of $14.5 million.

He was given the interim tag by the team last month, limiting his free agency. Had he played the 2024 season on that date, he would have received $13.8 million, the average salary of the top ten players at his position.

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Only five NFL players had received the transition tag in the last 10 years, and none were a safety.

The deal comes as the Patriots begin their voluntary offseason program this week, as coach Jerod Mayo and scouting director Eliot Wolf work to establish a culture they say is aimed in part at rewarding homegrown players who were drafted and developed by the team.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Dugger entered the NFL in 2020 as a second-round pick of the Patriots and played in 61 regular-season games, including 52 starts. He was the team's highest draft pick in 2020 at No. 37 after New England was eliminated in the first round.

The 28-year-old Dugger was a senior rookie out of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne and quickly proved he belonged in the NFL, thanks in part to his confident tackling and hard-hitting approach.

In 2023, Dugger posted a career-best 109 tackles and tied for the team lead with two interceptions. He played 98% of the defensive snaps, more than any other defensive lineman, further demonstrating his value to the team.

In 2022, he became the first Patriots defensive back since 1970 to score three touchdowns in a season.

Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick valued Dugger's versatility, and although Dugger's ideal fit is more at the line of scrimmage in a multiple scheme, the team did not hesitate to play him more in the deep part of the field in 2023 as a complement to veteran safety Jabrill Peppers .

He has 343 tackles and 9 interceptions in his career.