Mike Vrabel has made numerous changes to the 2025 squad compared to the 2024 roster, as exemplified by the team being favored in eleven more games this season than last. Among the moves, one position group saw a plethora of semi-significant additions: the safety room.
With these additions, paired with the subpar 2024 play of Kyle Dugger, it isn't out of the question that the team could look to move on from a player with a busted contract. He's currently owed just over $15 million in 2025 and has cap hits of $17 million and $18 million for the 2026-27 seasons.
Although a release before June 1 wouldn't significantly benefit the team, a release after that timestamp would save the team approximately $1.1 million in 2025 and split the dead cap hits between $14 million and $9 million over the next two seasons.
While it would be a hard pill to swallow, it would soften the blow his contract would have on the team's cap space going into future years.
The safety room is becoming redundant, and Dugger's 2025 play wasn't anything to spotlight
Dugger played in just 13 games last season, the lowest total of his career, primarily due to a high ankle sprain. When he did play, his performances fell short of the excellent form he had shown in 2022. The former second-rounder ranked 158/171 safeties in terms of overall PFF grade with a 44.3 score. His 59.7 grade against the run, his calling card trait, ranked him behind 132 players at the position.
The most concerning figure, however, might be his coverage grade, where PFF ranked him ahead of just seven safeties in the league. Dugger is the 11th highest-paid safety in the league, and one of eight players at the position whose contract's total value exceeds the $55 million mark.
Now, even if Dugger does progress to the mean in 2025, what might that look like for the safety room? During his best season in 2022, Dugger played a whopping 56% of his snaps in the box. Fast forward two seasons, and he's been thrust into a more versatile free safety role he isn't as comfortable with -- and it shows. Compared to his 82 total snaps as the deep man in 2022, Dugger played 244 in 2024, and just 13 games.
His role change is an indication that the team realizes the additions they've made to the safety room are too similar to one another. The similar measurable traits and top characteristics of Peppers, Dugger, and Mapu are strikingly similar. Hawkins and 2024 UDFA Dell Pettus played well in spurts, but both were more active as coverage players and have little investment in them.
With Vrabel's additions of Marcus Epps and rookie Craig Woodson, Dugger could be in further trouble. Like Dugger, Epps has struggled in pass coverage, but is a historically very sound run defender, sporting the third-best score from PFF in 2021. Woodson is more versatile with slot cornerback flexibility, but played as a free safety almost exclusively at Cal. This all boils down to price and role.
Dugger is very expensive and has been outshone by his partner in Peppers. Should the team opt to move on from him, a combination of Peppers and Epps or Peppers and Hawkins could make for a much cheaper and comparable duo.
Despite some splash plays from Dugger in the past, his high cap hit, paired with his redundancy in the box safety role, could mean the team opts to move on from a bad contract. While it may not offer immediate financial relief, it could be an opportunity to save money in future seasons, allowing new or younger players a chance at the starting lineup.
If he were to leave, Anfernee Jennings and Mike Onwenu would be the only remaining players on the roster from a draft that took place just five years ago.