BOSTON — The game of tag is over.

After placing the transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger to keep him through next season, the Patriots have re-signed their top safety to a 4-year, $58 million contract with $32.5 million guaranteed, a source told the Boston Herald.

Dugger’s new contract carries a maximum value of $66 million. He was set to make $13.8 million guaranteed on the 1-year tag, an average of the 10 highest-paid players at his position. Dugger was allowed to negotiate with other teams, but instead returns as the sixth-highest paid safety in the NFL by total contract value and average annual value. He is also the league’s fifth-highest paid safety by total guarantees.

Dugger started every Patriots game the past two seasons, missing just two due to injury. He enjoyed a Pro Bowl-caliber campaign in 2022, featuring three interceptions, three defensive touchdowns, a sack and one forced fumble. Dugger’s performance took a slight dip last year, though he set career highs with 109 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He also snatched two picks and forced a fumble.

The 28-year-old entered the league as a Patriots second-round pick in 2020 out of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne. Dugger played 58% of the team’s defensive snaps as a rookie and has been a starter ever since. The 6-foot-2, 222-pounder is one of the league’s best box safeties and will return to play alongside Jabrill Peppers and 2023 third-round pick Marte Mapu.

Dugger’s new deal is the latest example of de facto general manager Eliot Wolf extending the team’s core players, something he set out to do earlier this offseason.

“We definitely want to keep Mike (Onwenu) and Kyle,” Wolf said at the NFL scouting combine. “We’re hopeful to continue to work with Kyle’s agent and Mike to make that happen.”

The Patriots re-signed right tackle/guard Mike Onwenu to a three-year, $57 million contract and fellow 2020 draft picks, outside linebackers Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings, last month. Onwenu hit free agency as one of the best available players at his position, as Dugger was expected to do prior to the transition tag. The Pats also retained starting tight end Hunter Henry and wide receiver Kendrick Bourne.

Re-signing Dugger and Uche has kept virtually all of the Patriots’ defense together heading into next season. Nine of the 10 players to play at least half of the team’s defensive snaps last year are back in 2024. Per sources, the Patriots are also in negotiations to extend defensive tackle Christian Barmore, as the 2021 second-round pick heads into the last season of his contract.

In late January, Dugger changed agents from powerhouse Athletes First to 1 of 1 agency. The agency’s co-founder, longtime NFL agent Andy Simms, had a history of representing Patriots defensive backs who re-signed in New England, including Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty, Jonathan Jones and Duron Harmon. Dugger’s move indicated his goal was to re-sign, something he expressed during training camp last July.

"I’m just trying to play ball,” Dugger said. “That’s just what it is. I’ll let my agent handle that, and I gotta focus on the field. … I would love to play ball here. As far as everything else, I kind of leave that to my agent.”

However, the team's application of the transition tag upset negotiations in early March. Days later, multiple cap-crunched teams released their starting safeties ahead of free agency to create cap room. That extra supply of safeties was expected to depress Dugger's market, though he ultimately signed a contract in line with his camp's expectations: between $12 million and $16 million per year. As recently as last week, Dugger was dissatisfied with the tag and had yet to sign it.

His return makes the Patriots' 2020 draft the franchise's first class since 2010 to have both top picks sign second contracts in New England. During that stretch, the Patriots also traded top 2012 pick Chandler Jones and 2013 top pick Jamie Collins before each signed high-priced contracts elsewhere. Years of poor drafts ensued, which triggered the team's demise and a recent stretch of three losing seasons in four years.

Wolf will lead his first draft as the head of the Patriots' front office later this month.

The NFL Network first reported Dugger's new deal.

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