The 2026 NFL Draft is is in the books, and all the picks traded in the years leading up to it finally turn from numbers into actual football players. One of those trades included safety Kyle Dugger, the former New England Patriots second-round pick who was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of last year’s trade deadline..
Dugger had been a starter for the Patriots for most of his six years in the league, but he was demoted to a backup role over the summer of 2025. With Jaylinn Hawkins and Craig Woodson taking over as the top two, Dugger was sent to Pittsburgh in October.
The Patriots traded Dugger to the Steelers for what effectively amounts to a late-round pick exchange. New England shipped a seventh-rounder to Pittsburgh alongside its former team captain, getting a selection in the sixth round back in return.
Steelers receive: S Kyle Dugger, 2026 seventh-round pick (No. 224)
Patriots receive: 2026 sixth-round pick (No. 202)
Using the Rich Hill draft value chart as reference, the Patriots’ jump up the board — and therefore Dugger as trade commodity himself — was worth 1.44 points. That is the equivalent of the 245th overall selection in the draft.
The Patriots put the 202nd overall selection to use on Day 2 of this year’s draft. Together with the 63rd and the 131st picks, they packaged the selection to climb up to the 55th overall spot in the second round to select Illinois edge defender Gabe Jacas.
The final haul of the trade from a Patriots perspective therefore looks like this:
The Chargers, meanwhile, used all three of their selections. The 63rd overall pick was used on interior offensive lineman Jake Slaughter, the 131st on safety Genesis Smith, and the 202nd pick — the one originally transferring from Pittsburgh to New England — was used on Boston College guard Logan Taylor.
The Patriots shipped the 224th pick to the Steelers alongside Dugger, a selection they themselves had only acquired through a trade: it was this pick that had been obtained from the New Orleans Saints for ex-New England defensive tackle Davon Godchaux earlier in 2025.
In Pittsburgh, Spears-Jennings is joining a safety room that no longer includes Dugger. The veteran left the team earlier this offseason.
The Steelers made a midseason trade for Dugger after starting strong safety DeShon Elliott suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 8. The trade was a low-stakes, Day 3 pick swap for Pittsburgh – New England paid most of Dugger’s remaining salary — and the safety’s contract was amended to allow him to hit free agency in 2026.
Through nine games with the Steelers in 2025, Dugger logged 42 total tackles, five passes defensed, two interceptions, and once sack. While he certainly made some plays, his fluidity still was clearly a notch below what it was at the beginning of his career.
Dugger was a strong run-defending force, but he was a contributor to some of the team’s pass-coverage woes later in the season. However, for a cheap band-aid after the Steelers needed midseason secondary help, he filled the role respectably.
Dugger ended up signing with the Cincinnati Bengals during 2026 free agency on a one-year deal.