It\u2019s the big trend around the NFL, and it\u2019s something that Zac Taylor brought up a few days ago as he spoke about roles on the Bengals\u2019 defense: Offenses, including the Bengals, have leaned further into throwing the ball more out of 12 and 13 personnel (two and three tight end sets) over the last two years. <\/p>\n
The play that Kyle Dugger made against the Bengals that stands out to me wasn\u2019t the pick six that he had against Joe Flacco in 2025 in a game against the Steelers. It was the physical pass breakup that he had against Mike Gesicki in the back corner of the end zone in 2024 when the Bengals faced the Patriots.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the Bengals signed Dugger to a one-year deal. It\u2019s tough to find a starting role for him right now, especially with the Bengals listing him as a safety. While the Bengals have a wide open position at slot corner, NFL Pro says that Dugger hasn\u2019t defended a receiver in true man coverage since the 2023 season. I can\u2019t imagine him lining up one-on-one against, for example, Zay Flowers or Michael Pittman in the slot. <\/p>\n
But there a lot of other roles in specific subpackages where Dugger fits, especially against multi tight end sets. <\/p>\n
Last year, the Bengals typically matched 12 personnel with a base (4-3) defense. The Bengals\u2019 base defense allowed the most yards per play (6.1) in the entire NFL. The Bengals\u2019 4-3 defense also ranked dead-last in EPA\/play and second-worst in EPA\/pass. <\/p>\n
Dugger can give the defense the versatility to have more options against two tight end looks. There\u2019s a lot to love about Bryan Cook, but he hasn\u2019t been the style of safety who moves all over the field, blitzes and plays the slot. Jalen Davis is a true slot corner. Ja\u2019Sir Taylor looks like a true special teamer who can offer inside\/outside flexibility in a pinch. <\/p>\n
Dugger has had an interesting career. He was a second-round pick by the Patriots in 2020 out of Lenoir-Rhyne University, and Dugger became a classic traits prospect who developed into an impact piece. Heading into the 2024 season, he signed a four-year, $58 million deal with New England. <\/p>\n
But then, following the coaching change entering 2025, he didn\u2019t really fit. He ended up playing the entire fourth quarter of a preseason game last year. He was a backup in New England during the first half of the season, was traded to a Steelers team desperate for help in the secondary and started on a team that made the playoffs. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot to like about Dugger\u2019s intangibles. He was a captain in New England and was viewed as one of that defense\u2019s top communicators. Bill Belichick once handed Dugger the green dot in a pinch. Last November, he effectively pulled a \u201cJoe Flacco\u201d and played the the entire game at safety right after getting traded to the Steelers. <\/p>\n
On the field, Mike Tomlin called Dugger a \u201cbig time playmaker.\u201d Dugger\u2019s ability go get yards after takeaways is viewed as one of his strengths, and it\u2019s a sign of the 30 year-old\u2019s athleticism. He has real upside as a blitzer, and he can win one-on-one matchups against protectors who try to pick him up. There\u2019s fun tape of him slicing through the line of scrimmage and pressuring the quarterback.<\/p>\n
Dugger can line up on the edge or at linebacker, and his hybrid\/tweener athleticism is an asset.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of ways to envision him on the field against 12 personnel. He can take on blocks, finish as a tackler, run blitz or play the deep half as a safety. He\u2019s also known for being forceful against the run, and Dugger\u2019s explosiveness is what made him a high draft pick in 2020. <\/p>\n
Dugger has also played a good chunk of snaps in the slot, but he hasn\u2019t shown the ability to be an every down slot corner who can cover opposing receivers. Dugger is kind of like the safety version of Mike Gesicki. Belichick was ahead of this trend a few years ago. Gesicki was a matchup nightmare for safeties, and Dugger was the safety who could handle a wide variety of matchups. <\/p>\n
Belichick said about Dugger, \u201cHe\u2019s big. He can run. He can tackle. He can cover. He can blitz. He\u2019s great. These guys are great. That\u2019s why they go high in the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dugger gives the Bengals the ability to be more versatile without subbing, which can help. He can take some of the snaps or Oren Burks (giving the Bengals more speed against big personnel groupings) or the slot corner (giving the Bengals a bigger look against bigger personnel groupings). <\/p>\n
This is still very much a buy-low signing. Dugger isn\u2019t a proven starter at this point in his career. He played just about every snap with the Steelers during the second half of last season, but he was only able to do that because Pittsburgh was able to shift Jalen Ramsey into the slot. The Bengals are lacking a safety with any ability to play the slot, which will prevent them from using Dugger in quite the same way that the Steelers did. <\/p>\n
Still, Dugger is a defensive back who can give you solid snaps and play winning football. He also can be the immediate backup for Cook and Jordan Battle, giving the Bengals actual depth that they haven\u2019t had at safety since Dax Hill was a rookie at that position. At this stage of his career, maybe Dugger can even step up and lean further into a linebacker role. He has over 500 regular season snaps at linebacker over the last three years. Maybe Dugger ends up working out as the combo linebacker that the coaching staff discussed at the combine \u2014 just a different \u201ccombo\u201d as a linebacker\/safety instead of a defensive end\/linebacker. <\/p>\n
Signing depth like Dugger should always be appreciated for a Bengals\u2019 team that still has bad depth at outside corner, linebacker, defensive end and offensive tackle as well as subpar depth at receiver, tight end, guard, center, defensive tackle and slot corner. Also, the play of Knight and Carter is going to be a defining aspect of the season.<\/p>\n
What they\u2019re going to do full-time at slot corner remains to be seen, but Dugger gives the Bengals the ability to run some different stuff than Al Golden was able to last season.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WXIX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the big trend around the NFL, and it\u2019s something that Zac Taylor brought up a few days…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,39730,15422,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-854967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-generic","14":"tag-logo","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116351924704600240","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854967","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=854967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}