The Patriots are getting a sixth-round draft choice in 2026 in return for Dugger and a seventh-rounder. Let\u2019s grade the move.<\/p>\n
Instant grade: Patriots trade Kyle Dugger to Steelers<\/p>\n
Brian Hines: The Patriots have been looking for a trade for Dugger since the summer, but the safety remained a contributor playing just under 40 percent of the defensive snaps and appearing on special teams. Dugger\u2019s contract, however, does not match that role ultimately leading to the deal \u2014 but safety depth is now an increased area of need to acquire before the deadline. | Grade: C<\/p>\n
Pat Lane: Once again, it\u2019s hard to give the Patriots a very good grade for getting almost nothing back in return, but the Patriots had to move on from Dugger, who was clearly not a scheme fit. I really hope Pittsburgh can help him find his old self, but it looks like a lot of that freakish athleticism that made him such an intriguing prospect is gone. | Grade: D<\/p>\n
Matt St. Jean: Kyle Dugger was once a key chess piece in Bill Belichick\u2019s defense. Sadly, a handful of injuries, a scheme change, and the loss of Devin McCourty next to him and he\u2019s no longer the same player. Maybe reuniting with Jabrill Peppers in Pittsburgh can unlock the old Kyle Dugger once again. In the meantime, you\u2019re just happy to get what you can and move on. | Grade: C<\/p>\n
Dugger leaving the Patriots removes yet another longtime starter and team captain from the team in the first year under the new regime of head coach Mike Vrabel. Earlier during the offseason, the team already parted ways with David Andrews, Ja\u2019Whaun Bentley and the aforementioned Jabrill Peppers.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s your turn. What do you think about the Kyle Dugger trade? Do you like it? Do you not? Please head to the comment section to discuss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Patriots are getting a sixth-round draft choice in 2026 in return for Dugger and a seventh-rounder. Let\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[36480,349,99],"class_list":["post-257705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-new-england-patriots-opinion","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}