


There’s considerable change happening with the New England Patriots these days, but there will be at least some carryover to the post-Bill Belichick era.
The team agreed to a four-year contract extension with safety Kyle Dugger with a base value of $58 million, ESPN reported Sunday.
The deal will pay Dugger a guaranteed $32 million and could end up being worth $66 million.
The Patriots had previously placed the transition tag on Dugger, who is heading into his fifth season with the team out of Div. II Lenoir-Rhyne University.
The tag limited Dugger’s options in free agency, since it gave the Patriots the ability to match any deal he agreed to with another team, but Dugger did not sign an offer sheet during the offseason.
He had been set to make $13.8 million under the tag and will now earn an average of $14.5 million.
Dugger was a 2020 second-round pick by New England and will be playing for new head coach Jerod Mayo, who previously served on Belichick’s defensive coaching staff.

The 28-year-old Dugger has appeared in 61 regular-season games and is coming off a season in which he set a career-high with 109 tackles, had two interceptions and led New England’s defense by playing 98 percent of the team’s defensive snaps.
The Patriots will likely be looking to take a new quarterback with the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft after trading Mac Jones to the Jaguars last month.