Yahoo! Sports · Aug 14, 2025
Mike Vrabel gives reason for longtime starter's fall on Patriots depth chart
Danny Jaillet, Patriots Wire August 14, 2025 at 2:29 PM UTC· 1 min readNew England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was blunt when asked about veteran safety Kyle Dugger taking reps with the second-team unit.
Dugger has started in 65 games for the Patriots, but rookie Craig Woodson's emergence has made things interesting. This comes a year after Dugger struggled on the field, following a high ankle sprain.
"Just making sure that he's where he needs to be, and understanding the coverage concepts and everything we do -- keep working and keep progressing," Vrabel said on Dugger, via ESPN's Mike Reiss. "A lot of this is the guys that have earned the right to take a look with that first unit."
