{"id":285654,"date":"2025-08-13T20:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T20:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/285654\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T20:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T20:26:11","slug":"patriots-mike-vrabel-breaks-silence-on-kyle-duggers-apparent-benching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/285654\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots\u2019 Mike Vrabel breaks silence on Kyle Dugger\u2019s apparent benching"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots have switched up their safety rotation in training camp<\/a> ahead of the 2025 NFL season, and it appears Kyle Dugger is no longer a starter.<\/p>\n

Dugger has been taking second-team reps at practice recently<\/a>, as Jaylinn Hawkins has been taking more snaps with the starters. Jabrill Peppers and rookie Craig Woodson also seem to be ahead of Dugger on the depth chart.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Though he did have a down year in 2024, Dugger\u2019s demotion is shocking, as the former second-round pick has been a key piece of the defense since entering the league in 2020. He even signed a four-year extension worth $58 million with the team last offseason.<\/a><\/p>\n

Head coach Mike Vrabel finally broke his silence on Dugger\u2019s benching during a press conference before New England\u2019s joint practice with the Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n

Vrabel stated that Dugger needs to continue working and progressing.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust making sure that he\u2019s where he needs to be, and understanding the coverage concepts and everything we do,\u201d Vrabel said of Dugger via Doug Kyed of The Boston Herald.<\/a> \u201cKeep working and keep progressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Patriots\u2019 head coach added that those who are taking the first-team reps have earned them, signaling that Dugger has work to do before receiving a chance to get back in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of this is the guys that have earned it, earned the right to take a look with that first unit, and again, there\u2019ll be different lineups and different things. And so we\u2019ll just focus on the reps that you get, and right now his [Dugger\u2019s] attitude has been great, and he\u2019s had a long, long recovery in the offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, he\u2019s been out there, and he\u2019s continued to get better and work. And I think the more that he practices, the better he\u2019s going to feel, and the more that it\u2019s going to translate onto the football field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dugger may not be the best scheme fit in new defensive coordinator Terrell Williams\u2019 defense, and the new coaching staff likely doesn\u2019t view him as a valuable piece.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

With training camp and the preseason wrapping up in a few weeks, Dugger\u2019s days in New England could be numbered if he doesn\u2019t impress the new staff sooner rather than later.<\/a> It sounds like Vrabel is pretty comfortable with the rest of the players in the safety room.<\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots have switched up their safety rotation in training camp ahead of the 2025 NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[1846,7,7899,7895,7882,838,259,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-285654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-craig-woodson","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jabrill-peppers","11":"tag-jaylinn-hawkins","12":"tag-kyle-dugger","13":"tag-mike-vrabel","14":"tag-minnesota-vikings","15":"tag-new-england","16":"tag-new-england-patriots","17":"tag-newengland","18":"tag-newenglandpatriots","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115023340143443775","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}