Well this explains a lot.
He was also one of three Patriots to have over 100 combined tackles.
And of course, I got my wish.
Only to see his 2024 season result in an unmitigated, injury-riddled disaster.
Other than these, everything was swell.
Granted, there were other issues.
But there’s good news.
In the form of a perfectly legitimate explanation.
I felt like I let the team down.
And it was challenging because mentally, I couldnt check out and recover, Dugger told the Herald.
Being told, basically, a sprain was keeping me back.
And Im just like, this doesnt make sense.
That was Week 4.
I honestly believe I should have taken another week off, he admitted.
That went up pretty significantly from what it had come down to.
Initially, itd be easy to use (the injury) as an excuse, you know?
But the reality is Im deciding to be out there.
Thats what comes with the business, and its the decision I decided to make.
And there we have it.
There’s yer problem, ma’am.
It wasn’t for lack of effort.
He didn’t suddenly lose three steps at the age of 28.
He didn’t forget how to play tackle football.
He did what the truly good ones do.
The ones you want to sign to long term extensions.
He was playing through stuff that probably should’ve ended his season early on.
And he deserves to be recognized for nutting up and playing instead of opting to make a business decision.
Which brings us to why he decided he was needed so much.
Its tough to put it on one thing, he said.
And thats a group thing.
You cant really rely on one guy to fix things like that.
It was a group thing.
We just needed to grow up.
And how that was indicative of a much larger problem, the total lack of leadership on this team.
Who will undoubtedly elevate the guys like Dugger who intend to be part of the solution.
And jettison the ones who aren’t bought into the program overboard like so much supercargo.
It can’t happen soon enough.
The Twittersphere is blaming the fact Jerod Mayo’s brother was the Strength and Conditioning coach.
But that’s probably just lazy scapegoating, since Deron Mayo had been on the staff since 2018.
Whoever is to blame, that stuff has got to get cleaned up.
But if nothing else, Kyle Dugger is still the player we thought he was.
And the leadership issues on this team are being addressed.
A great start to 2025 continues.
