It’s been almost a month since the New England Patriots traded away safety Kyle Dugger, but he easily remains the team’s most puzzling story of this 2025 season.
Over a span of three preseason games, Dugger mysteriously dropped from starter to scout team to on the trade block. It wasn’t until after the Patriots’ Week 8 win over the Cleveland Browns that Dugger was shipped to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a swap of 2026 sixth- and seventh-round draft picks.
Dugger was never a Mike Vrabel guy, but he quickly went from one of the team’s highest-paid young players to starting three consecutive games in Mike Tomlin’s defense.