Felger: The Patriots using the transition tag on Kyle Dugger is useless
The New England Patriots placed the transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger, which mean his agent must report back to the team with their best contract offer and the Patriots can match it if they’d like to. On Tuesday’s Felger and Mazz, Felger made it known that he is no fan of the use of the transition tag.
The Patriots using the transition tag on Kyle Dugger is useless….
Jim Murray: From ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler……”Source: Patriots are placing the transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger“.
Felger: So useless. Oh, that’s so useless. And it’s so cheap. It’s so useless. It’s so them. I hate it, I hate it. It’s so dumb. The transition tag.
Mazz: Five players have received the transition tag in the last ten years.
Felger: Five in ten years. That’s right, it only happens once every other year.
Felger: You know, it happens so often so rarely that I have to refresh my memory on the rules, but I think all it is is a right to match. I think that’s all that it is.
Mazz: Correct. Yep.
Felger: You don’t get any compensation.
Mazz: Non-exclusive franchise tag, except it only provides the original team the right to match the other teams offer.

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – JANUARY 01: Kyle Dugger #23 of the New England Patriots celebrates an interception for a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins during the third quarter at Gillette Stadium on January 01, 2023 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
Felger: So if you lose them, you don’t get draft pick compensation. In my mind’s eye it was always something you did if you and the player weren’t getting along, where you would say, “well, now with the transition tag, you are required to bring that to us and we have the right to match you required to”. But if you have a good functional relationship with your player all you do is you say, “go to the market, let us know what you get come back to us and we’ll see what we can do”.
Mazz: Correct.
Felger: The Pats have done this over and over and over again. What? What is the need to transition? Tag a guy unless he told you to go f-yourself, in which case you say, okay, now you’ve got to come back to us. And then what if he gets a good offer? You obviously don’t want to pay him the franchise number. You’ll only do it if someone else is willing to do it? I think the transition tag is garbage. It’s useless.