Kyle
Dugger.
Kyle
Dugger.
Lenoir–Rhyne· 6'1"· 217 lb· 4.49s 40
"The only Division II player at both the Senior Bowl and the combine, a 216-pound safety with six punt return touchdowns and one unanswerable question about his competition."Pre-draft read
A 220-pound Division II safety who looked like a linebacker and moved like a returner. He played downhill against the run, covered the slot and dropped into deep zone, and the athletic gap to his level of competition was absurd.
The explosiveness was the story. He returned six punts for touchdowns, twice scoring twice in the same game, and he attacked ball carriers with a hitter's mentality that produced six forced fumbles and six recoveries. In coverage he tracked the ball for ten career interceptions and 36 breakups. What nobody could evaluate was his reaction time against pro speed and route detail. The signature was closing burst: he covered ground from depth faster than the receiver expected.
Defense that plays him as a strong safety in the box and over the slot while a rangier partner handles the deep middle behind him.
Year 1: sub-package box defender and special teams weapon. Ceiling: a 100-tackle starting strong safety with takeaway production.
Single-high scheme that parks him alone at depth and asks him to read a pro quarterback's eyes on every snap.
He is at his best when the scheme lets him play forward instead of backward.
Kyle Dugger, DB, Lenoir-Rhyne | 2020 NFL Draft Highlights
The Division II tape that put him on top-50 boards.
Player Spotlight: Kyle Dugger, S, Lenoir-Rhyne
Pre-draft study of the athletic profile and the competition question.
Kyle Dugger NFL Combine Highlights
The only Division II athlete to work out in Indianapolis that spring.
Dugger arrived in the 2020 process as the most intriguing small-school prospect in the draft. Across 42 games at Lenoir-Rhyne he recorded 237 tackles, ten interceptions, 36 passes defensed, six forced fumbles and six fumble recoveries, and he became the best return man in the program's hundred-year history with 929 punt return yards and six punt return touchdowns, both school records.
The resume peaked in an injury-shortened senior year. He played only seven games and still won the Cliff Harris Award as the best defensive player in Division II, opening the season with a 30-yard pick-six on his first defensive series and later returning two punts for scores in the first six minutes against UVA-Wise. He was a consensus All-American and the only Division II player invited to both the Senior Bowl and the combine.
He measured 6-1 and 216 pounds, tested like a first-round athlete and held up in Mobile against FBS competition, which moved him from curiosity to top-50 name. The evaluation reduced to one question: how much of the dominance was talent and how much was the competition gap. New England, a franchise historically comfortable betting on small-school defenders, took him 37th, making him the highest draft pick in South Atlantic Conference history.
- 01
Explosive athleticism
Tested like a first-round athlete at 216 pounds and confirmed it against FBS competition in Mobile.
- 02
Return game weapon
Six career punt return touchdowns and 929 return yards, both Lenoir-Rhyne records in a century of football.
- 03
Ball production
Ten interceptions, 36 pass breakups, six forced fumbles and six recoveries across 42 college games.
- 04
Downhill force
Plays the run like a linebacker, filling alleys with real pop and taking on blockers rather than avoiding them.
- 05
Positional flexibility
Can be deployed in the box, over the slot or at depth, which raises his floor in any modern structure.
- 01
Level of competition
Division II receivers never tested his reaction time, so every projection requires a leap of faith.
- 02
Route recognition
Late to diagnose layered concepts he simply never saw, a gap that pro offenses will attack early.
- 03
Senior-year availability
Injury limited him to seven games in his final season, shrinking an already small evaluation sample.
- 04
Coverage technique
Relies on athleticism rather than footwork at the top of routes, which will need real coaching.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.49sp50
- Vertical
- 42inp50
- Broad jump
- 134inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 17repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Lenoir-Rhyne | 14 | 76 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 2019 | Lenoir-Rhyne | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | — | 42 | 237 | 0 | 10 | 36 | 6 |
Career totals are published by Lenoir-Rhyne athletics and the Cliff Harris Award release: 42 games, 237 tackles, 10 interceptions, 36 passes defensed, six forced fumbles and six fumble recoveries, plus 929 punt return yards and six punt return touchdowns. Division II season-by-season splits are not published for 2016 and 2017, so those years are omitted rather than estimated, and unverified categories are left blank instead of entered as zero. The 2019 season covers only seven games because of injury.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A physical, long-tenured box safety who starts for most of a decade without ever becoming a household name.
The ceiling: an enforcer strong safety whose size and violence define an entire defensive identity.
The downside: a useful starter whose availability and coverage limits keep the role narrow.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The transition took the expected time and then he arrived. He played 14 games as a rookie in a rotational role, then became a full-time starter with 92 combined tackles and four interceptions in 2021 and 78 tackles with three interceptions and two defensive touchdowns in 2022. The peak came in 2023: 109 combined tackles, seven passes defensed, two interceptions and a season that earned him a four-year extension from New England. Injuries limited him to 13 games in 2024, and 2025 went sideways, with seven quiet games in New England before a midseason move to Pittsburgh, where he closed with 42 combined tackles, two interceptions, a sack, a safety and a defensive touchdown in nine games. He signed with Cincinnati as an unrestricted free agent in the 2026 offseason.
The verdict is a hit, if not the star some projected. The competition question was answered honestly: he needed two seasons to catch up mentally, he never became the takeaway machine he was in Division II, and the special teams explosiveness never translated into an NFL return role. But 78 starts and half a decade anchoring a back end is exactly the outcome a second-round safety is supposed to deliver.
Data note: from LA Chargers