One of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ recent midseason acquisitions is making a name for himself already, as NFL writer Kristopher Knox urged head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan to lock up safety Kyle Dugger long-term.
“The Steelers can and should offer a long-term deal to 29-year-old safety Kyle Dugger,” Knox wrote with Bleacher Report.
Reasoning: “Pittsburgh acquired Dugger from New England in exchange for a late-round pick swap, and it has already seen impactful results. Dugger has started all four games in which he’s appeared and has recorded 18 tackles, three passes defended and a pick-six while allowing an opposing passer rating of only 53.1 in coverage.”
Dugger wouldn’t necessarily break the bank, so this could be a low-cost move that helps shore up the back end over the next few seasons.
Kyle Dugger Immediately Unseated Multiple Steelers Safeties After Coming Over via Trade
Dugger was one of the Steelers’ trade acquisitions before the 2025 deadline, and he ended up coming to Pittsburgh and stealing a starting role.
DeShon Elliott suffered a long-term injury around the same time of the trade, and star cornerback Jalen Ramsey was also moved to free safety. Once seeing Dugger fit into the scheme, the Steelers promptly released Juan Thornhill and benched Chuck Clark, switching things up in a big way.
And that was all because of the emergence of Dugger.
A former second-round selection of Bill Belichick’s in 2020, Dugger started 70 total games for the New England Patriots over a five-year period.
Then, unfortunately for the veteran safety, new head coach Mike Vrabel came in and went a different direction at the position. After falling out of favor in New England, the Steelers quickly pounced, giving up the bare minimum to acquire Dugger.
So far, that’s proven to be a wise move by Khan and Tomlin.
Should the Steelers Push to Re-Sign Aaron Rodgers?
Before talking about Dugger, Knox made it clear that he feels Pittsburgh should also consider attempting to re-sign Aaron Rodgers.
“Quarterback Aaron Rodgers will probably be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ most important free agent next offseason,” the analyst noted. Adding: “However, there’s no guarantee that the soon-to-be 42-year-old wants to play beyond this season, so any thoughts of an early extension are probably moot.”
It’s true. If the Steelers want to bring back Rodgers, they’ll probably have to play his waiting game once again.
That means potentially having no starting quarterback on the roster throughout the bulk of NFL free agency and the draft. It’d be another risky QB move, and a lot for Rodgers to ask out of the organization after forcing them to wait in 2025.
On the bright side, the Steelers do have both Mason Rudolph and Will Howard under contract in 2026 — let’s say they want to roll the dice on Rodgers playing again.
If he made a decision before the draft, that’d also be helpful, considering Pittsburgh has several picks to work with next April.
Unfortunately, there’s no telling what Rodgers will do until he makes that decision himself. And he probably won’t reveal it until late spring or early summer, judging by his recent track record.
In this sort of scenario, the Steelers would be better off telling Rodgers that he must operate on a quicker timeline this offseason, or they’ll explore new QB options. This is an important spring for Pittsburgh, and Khan and Tomlin have to know where they stand at quarterback early on.
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