Jerod Mayo on Kyle Dugger: We value players with high character

The Patriots officially announced that they have used their transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger on Tuesday afternoon.

Dugger joined the Patriots as a 2020 second-round pick and using the tag allows the Patriots to match any outside offer for Dugger’s services. Any offer from another team can be matched, but the Patriots will not receive any draft pick compensation if Dugger joins another club.

If Dugger signs the tag, he will receiver $13.815 million in salary. He can still sign a long-term deal and head coach Jerod Mayo said that is something the team would like to get done.

“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,” 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.”

Dugger started all 17 games for the Patriots last season. He had 107 tackles, 1.5 sacks, two interceptions, seven passes defensed, and one forced fumble.