Patriots placing transition tag on Dugger; Jets cut Uzomah
The Patriots placed the transition tag on impending free-agent safety Kyle Dugger.
The transition tag costs $13.81 million and means the Patriots have right of first refusal if another team offers Dugger a contract. If the Patriots were to lose Dugger to a contract offer from another team, they would receive no compensation, barring a trade.
“Kyle is a talented player with a strong work ethic who has improved every year and been extremely productive since joining our team in 2020,” Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo said in a statement. “We value players with high character and chose to use the transition designation to give both sides more time to try to reach a long-term agreement, which is our goal with Kyle.”
The Patriots now cannot place a tag on impending free-agent offensive lineman Mike Onwenu, who is expected to represent himself this offseason after firing his agents.
Dugger has been a key cog in the Patriots defense since being selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Lenoirrhyne. He primarily played strong safety in his first three NFL season before splitting his time between the box role he had settled into and free safety when Devin Mccourty retired last offseason.
A source told the Herald last week at the NFL Scouting Combine that Dugger was expected to garner an average salary of $12-to-$16 million per year. His $13.81 million salary falls in line with that amount.
Dugger, who will turn 28 later this month, has 343 career tackles with nine interceptions, three touchdowns, 20 pass breakups, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 2.5 sacks, 17 tackles for loss and nine QB hits in 61 games with 52 starts.
The Patriots also have Jabrill Peppers under contract at safety. Jalen Mills is set to hit free agency next week, and the Patriots released veteran safety Adrian Phillips last month.
Dugger’s tag will reduce the Patriots’ salary cap space from their previous figure of over $100 million. Miguel Benzan, or @Patscap on X, projects the Patriots to have $87,696,056 million remaining in salary cap room.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo and de facto general manager Eliot Wolf both said last week that keeping Dugger and Onwenu was a priority for the team.
“I would say last year going into the season there were some questions about, ‘can he communicate and all those … ’ He squashed all of that this year,” Mayo said of Dugger. “He did a fantastic job in his new role without having Devin there.
“So you definitely want those pieces to stay. You develop through the draft. So if those guys stay, obviously, they’ve been raised here and they can help push the culture forward.”
“We definitely want to keep Mike and Kyle,” Wolf said. “We’re hopeful to continue to work with with Kyle’s agent and Mike to make that happen.”
According to a source, the Jets will release tight end C.J. Uzomah after two seasons with the team. The move will save the Jets $5.3 million.
The Jets will now have over $25 million of salary cap space. Last week, they released left guard Laken Tomlinson after two seasons, which saved them $8.1 million.
In 2022, the Jets signed Uzomah and Tyler Conklin to lucrative contracts. Uzomah signed a threeyear, $24 million contract hoping he could help bolster the Jets’ offense. Conklin signed a threeyear, $21 million deal after spending his first four seasons with the Vikings.
The Jets thought they were getting the same Uzomah who caught 49 receptions for 493 yards and five touchdowns with the Bengals in 2021. However, his production slipped last two seasons.