The Patriots Give Kyle Dugger a Long Term Extension, Further Validating Bill Belichick's Personnel Moves

CJ GUNTHER. Shutterstock Images.

I'm a man who prides himself on having the gift of gratitude. I forget who said this - it may have been Diogenes or it could've been Sheryl Crow - but the saying goes, "It's not having what you want. It's wanting what you've got." And since he intentionally lived in a barrel, neither of them had digital or diddly squat. 

So I for one am extremely grateful the Patriots have finally come to terms on an extension for safety Kyle Dugger and am not looking this gift horse in the mouth:

Source - According to Ian Rapoport, the deal has a base of $58 million with $32.5 million guaranteed, and could be worth up to $66 million, as Dugger joins Mike Owenu (three-year deal) and Anfernee Jennings (three-year deal) as recent Patriots draft picks to receive significant second contracts with the team this offseason.

Along with a one-year pact with Josh Uche and three-year deals for 2021 free agent additions Hunter Henry and Kendrick Bourne, the team has prioritized rebuilding a base and establishing needed continuity with some of their best performers of recent seasons.

These are, after all, the very personnel moves I was hoping they would make, back in mid-February:

In fact, I listed Dugger only after Onwenu when it came to my top priority. And agreed with a suggestion by Adam Schefter that the Pats would likely franchise him:

Schefter makes a fair point about Franchising Dugger. He's as important to Jerod Mayo's defense as Onwenu is to his offense. But Franchised safeties are much more cost effective than OTs. He's been making everybody's Top Free Agents Available list (he's No. 20 on Pro Football Focus), and has unquestionably emerged as one of their most dependable defenders. Dugger led the unit in total snaps with over 1,100 and solo tackles, with 79. He was also one of three Patriots to have over 100 combined tackles. And in addition to run support, has shown to be versatile enough to cover tight ends and backs as well as rush the passer (15 total pressures). Moreover, he's the leader at the back end of a defense that was able to lose Devin McCourty to retirement without a huge drop off. Dugger would be tough if not impossible to replace in a scheme that relies heavily on the back end of its secondary.

Recent reports said Dugger was getting increasingly (and understandably) frustrated by the lack of a deal. And by giving him this extension, and from the figures I can find on Over the Cap this gives him the fourth most guaranteed money at his position, this sends the right message to the entire locker room. It shouts into a megaphone that it doesn't matter if you're a 1st rounder who went to a powerhouse football factory (looking at you, Mac Jones), or were a surprise 2nd rounder out of Lenoir-Rhyne, if you work hard, produce, are accountable, show leadership, and (wait for it) … Do Your Job, you will be rewarded. If you demonstrate you're the kind of player this franchise wants to build around, long term security will be yours. 

So again, I deeply appreciate the move. This means they've extended the Top 5 potential free agents on my wish list, plus Josh Uche, whom I made less of a priority. 

Still, I can't help but notice how this once again validates Bill Belichick's General Managing. And begs the question of why he had to get fired. I mean, if this offseason has done anything, it's demonstrated that the current front office loved the way the previous front office built the roster, does it not? If you're going to fire a GM, wouldn't it be for incompetence? Doesn't it follow logically that you'd try to make a major course correction? That we'd experience major changes in order to undo all his mistakes? Instead, Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo are just validating all his decisions since the 2020 draft. Someone different is behind the wheel, but following the same route the last drive programmed into the organizational GPS. 

Even when it came to going after other teams' free agents. The most, and I'm using the term loosely, "dramatic" signing they've made is 2016 draftee Jacoby Brissett to be our one year bridge quarterback. (And to give lazy Patriots bloggers a chance to make obvious Francis Scott Key disaster analogies; but I'll cross that bridge metaphor when I come to it.) And the most significant trade they made was to dump Jones for a last-day draft pick, after he finished the season as a healthy scratch by HC Bill.

So rather than see this huge rapudiation of GM Bill, his inferior drafting and ineffective pro scouting, we're seeing approval. Time and time again. Making Dugger's signing just further proof that things were going badly enough that Belichick had to get fired, but not so bad that any other changes had to be made. Not in terms of the player personnel staff. And not in terms of overall organizational philosophy. Which is inexplicably weird, given no one disputes he was the best to ever do this job. 

I'll just wrap this up with another thing I wrote in February. Just so this can be put to bed once and for all:

If there's a single reason why this year it's Eliot Wolf splashing the chips and not Bill Belichick, it's this factoid that gets mentioned a lot, but still bears repeating: The last time the Patriots gave a second contract to someone they drafted in the first three rounds, it was Duron Harmon. Whom they took in 2013. The rookie classes from 2013-19 included 22 such players, including five 1st rounders. All of them were deemed unworthy of keeping around beyond their rookie deal and were either released, traded, or allowed to walk.

That does it for that. Congrats to Kyle Dugger and to all of us who wanted to keep building the defense around him. And to the man who had the vision to draft him out of an obscure program. Now buy a shirt: