3 most head-scratching selections in 2020 NFL Draft
By Cory Kinnan
Kyle Dugger to the New England Patriots
There may not be a bigger fan of division-II phenom Kyle Dugger. The Lenoir-Rhyne safety has overcome quite a bit to get to where he is today, but this is not mutually exclusive with the fact that Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots may have reached just a bit to get him.
The highly intuitive, hard hitting safety landed with the Patriots in the second round, with the 37th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. While this writer has little issues with the value in the second round (where just about everyone knew he was going to go), it is more about who Dugger was picked in front of that has the masses a bit confused.
With the likes of the ultra-athletic Jeremy Chinn, LSU’s star safety Grant Delpit, Cal’s walk-on stud Ashtyn Davis, and Minnesota’s ball hawk Antoine Winfield Jr. still on the board, Belichick opted in favor of Dugger. From a talent perspective, this seems fine and well (although it was still a bit rich), but looking at the context of the player is where the confusion arises.
Dugger is already 24 years of age after hanging around Lenoir-Rhyne for six seasons. He hung around for an additional two years after he was granted a medical redshirt after tearing his ACL in 2017. The likes of Winfield and Delpit are significantly younger, and while Winfield has an ACL injury in his past, may have higher ceilings.
There is a strong chance Dugger could go on to have a highly productive career, but given his age and injury history, the Patriots may have been better off with one of the younger guys from power-five schools.