The game of tag is over.

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After placing the transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger last month to keep him through next season, the Patriots have re-signed their top safety to a 4-year, $58 million contract with $32.5 million guaranteed, a source told the Herald.

Dugger’s new contract carries a max value of $66 million. He was set to make $13.8 million guaranteed on the 1-year tag, which allowed him to negotiate with other teams. Instead, Dugger becomes the sixth-highest paid safety in the NFL by total contract value and average annual value with his new deal. He is also the league’s fifth-highest paid safety by total guarantees.

Dugger started every Patriots game the past two seasons, missing just two due to injury. He produced a Pro Bowl-caliber campaign in 2022, featuring three interceptions, three defensive touchdowns, a sack and one forced fumble. Dugger’s production took a slight dip last year, though he set career highs with 109 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He also snatched two picks and forced a fumble.

The 28-year-old entered the league as a Patriots second-round pick in 2020 out of Lenoir-Rhyne. Dugger played 58% of the team’s defensive snaps as a rookie and has been a starter ever since. The 6-foot-2, 222-pounder is one of the league’s best box safeties and will return to play alongside Jabrill Peppers and 2023 third-round pick Marte Mapu.

Dugger’s new deal is the latest example of de facto general manager Eliot Wolf extending the team’s core players, something he set out to do earlier this offseason.

The Patriots also re-signed right tackle/guard Mike Onwenu to a three-year, $57 million contract last month and fellow 2020 draft picks, outside linebackers Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings, to new deals. Onwenu hit free agency as one of the best available players at his position, as Dugger was expected to do prior to the transition tag.

“We definitely want to keep Mike and Kyle,” Wolf said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “We’re hopeful to continue to work with with Kyle’s agent and Mike to make that happen.”

The NFL Network first reported Dugger’s new deal.

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