The Pittsburgh Steelers jumped into the trade waters Tuesday night, acquiring New England Patriots veteran safety Kyle Dugger. So who is Pittsburgh getting in Dugger? Can he help a flailing defense? We’re diving into every angle of Dugger’s career. His background, his usage, his contract, and, of course, his tape.

Background

Dugger first came on our radar during the 2020 Senior Bowl. I was down in Mobile when Dugger was a largely unknown sleeper out of D-II Lenior Rhyne. He flashed during the week. Our pre-draft scouting report spoke well of him, our Tom Mead writing him up at the time:

“Physically he looks like an NFL player with comparable size to players like Jamal Adams, Landon Collins and Keanu Neal. He has good athleticism, speed and will support the run along with a lot of experience on special team covering and returning punts. In the Senior Bowl they used him in different coverages but was most often used in the box to the strong side.”

New England snagged him in the second round of the draft. He spent six years there before being traded. A pending free agent ahead of 2024, we noted Dugger in our offseason wish list. But he inked a four-year deal, $58 million to stay with the Patriots. A regime change to new head coach Mike Vrabel saw Dugger fall out of favor. He’s spent large chunks of the season on the bench, though he started and played every snap in Week 6 and 7.

Injuries have been another issue. In 2024, he battled an ankle injury that hampered his play. Attempting to play through, his performance suffered and he missed four games. After the season, he underwent “tightrope surgery” to address his high ankle sprain.

“It was the ligament detaching,” he told the Boston Herald this past January. “So it was actually getting worse then while I played on it, and I didn’t know. I was told it was a bone bruise, which caused inflammation, and it caused the injury to get worse. And I had no idea.”

Dugger was on the trade block throughout this season. Beat writer Ben Volin told us prior to the Steelers/Patriots Week 3 meeting that New England considered cutting Dugger or Jabrill Peppers. Ultimately, the team cut Peppers because of his smaller salary. ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted Dugger was on the trade block and likely moved ahead of the deadline. Tuesday night, Pittsburgh sent a 2026 sixth-round pick for Dugger and a 2026 seventh rounder and now have Peppers and Duggers on roster.

USAGE

Dugger is primarily a safety but is also versatile. Per PFF, here’s how he has aligned this season.

Free Safety: 76
Box Safety: 73
Slot Corner: 32
Wide Corner: 1

He’s also played on both kick return units and the punt return squad, logging 184 total defensive snaps and another 77 on special teams. He was a regular on special teams until 2024 when the team limited him, presumably in part due to his injury.

It’s worth noting Dugger sat out Week 8 due to a knee injury, though you have to wonder if the Patriots were influenced by the hope or belief a trade was near. He would have to pass a physical for this trade to be completed.

The Film

The Good

Dugger is a big body rare for a safety at 6’1, 217 pounds coming out of college. He’s physical and attacking downhill, showing his best reps in the box and against the run. He’s aggressive in his run fits and sets the edge well. Watch him fill his gap here and disrupt this run.

He is No. 23 in all these clips.

More examples.

Despite logging just 18 snaps against Pittsburgh earlier this season, Dugger was active. Here, he sets the edge to force RB Jaylen Warren inside and ends up making the tackle.

He mostly played against Pittsburgh’s big/tight end heavy personnel.

An effective blitzer thanks to his size and power, he has 10 career QB hits and 3.5 sacks. Dugger doesn’t have one of either this year but still showed some plus reps. DeShon Elliott had been an effective and more frequently used blitzer this season, 8.3 percent of the time with three pressures, and Dugger can fill that specific role.

The Bad

Dugger doesn’t look as athletic as he once was. Though he’s still been used in space and coverage as a post safety, a lack of speed in the open grass is concerning. The first play I popped on came in Week 6 against the New Orleans Saints. As the deep half safety, he was beaten by WR Chris Olave for a 53 yard gain, simply lacking the speed to open it up and run.

On tape, he struggled to cover and close a lot of ground and was exposed in space.

For his career, his missed tackle rate is below-average. It spiked to over 15 percent last year, probably due to his injury, but it still sits at 9.4 percent for his career. Pro Football Reference lists him with zero this season but on this rep, he throws just a shoulder and falls off.

Since entering the league in 2020, his missed tackle rate is 94th out of 136 players with at least 300 tackles.

He can also be late with his eyes and showed difficulty shedding blocks on the perimeter. He couldn’t work off this block against the Panthers, leading to an explosive run. Some may argue this was holding but it was not flagged.

Frankly, his 2025 tape was often quiet. Partially due to a lack of playing time, partially due to the nature of the position where a free safety may not be involved on many plays, and partially due to tape that simply didn’t pop. And evaluating earlier in his career is tricky knowing he was hurt nearly all of last year. Going back any earlier is watching a different-caliber player.

Contract

As noted in the hours after the deal, the Steelers have greatly reworked Dugger’s deal. The Patriots absorbed most of his 2025 salary, including his per-game roster bonuses, and the final two years of his deal that ran through 2027 have been voided. Meaning, he’ll be a free agent when the season ends. Because of the contract being lopped off, CBA rules disqualify the Steelers to receiving potential compensatory selections for him.

Still, Pittsburgh’s on the hook here for very little. In fact, it’s hard to give up less than the Steelers have.

Final Thoughts

Of course, teams often get what they pay for. The Patriots have shopped Dugger for months and finally found a taker. Pittsburgh’s interest is understandable after losing thumping safety DeShon Elliott for at least the next month due to his knee injury.

Pittsburgh’s biggest issue in the secondary has been age and a lack of speed. Dugger is 29 years old which makes him a downright baby in a secondary featuring several in their 30s: Juan Thornhill (30), Chuck Clark (30), Jalen Ramsey (31), and Darius Slay (34). But Dugger’s own lack of foot speed in the open field isn’t going to help the Steelers’ core problem.

He can help against the run and that presumably will be his primary purpose. If Elliott didn’t get hurt, this trade wouldn’t have happened and if it did, would’ve made far less sense. Jabrill Peppers is cut from a similar cloth but doesn’t have the size Dugger possesses.

Where Dugger could be interesting is a big nickel (three safeties instead of three cornerbacks) component against tight end heavy teams, especially with two looming matchups against the Baltimore Ravens. Pittsburgh hasn’t shown much of that package this season but Elliott’s been injured a portion of the season, hampering that ability.

Pittsburgh wanted an alternative. Finding help this time of year is difficult and Dugger is heady and experienced to help him jump on the moving train. If it doesn’t work out, the Steelers have lost little. Omar Khan still has the same number of draft picks as he did before the trade, the swap putting him just a little lower in the order by say, 30-ish picks.

With tempered expectations, it’s an inoffensive trade, even if it won’t cure the team’s biggest ills.