Bengals sign S Kyle Dugger to a 1 year deal.
Dugger was originally a 2nd round pick of the New England Patriots in 2020. He spent 6 and a half years there, with most of that time being as a starter. However, in the later years, his play dropped off, and he was benched. This past season, they shipped him off to the Pittsburgh Steelers at the trade deadline, where he started all 9 games he appeared in.
The veteran brings a lot of experience and 11 career interceptions to Cincinnati. Of course, the Bengals entered the offseason needing S help, after knowing that Geno Stone would move on, and then needing to replace special teams ace Tycen Anderson.
They signed Bryan Cook to replace Stone, and Dugger might come in and compete with Jordan Battle for the starting SS role opposite of Cook. It is also possible that Battle keeps his starting spot and Dugger is involved as the third guy. There have been instances where the Bengals have liked deploying 3 safeties, but their lack of depth sometimes has stopped them. Duggar could be someone who moves around the formation a little bit.
The team also signed CB Ja’Sir Taylor to a 1 year deal.
Taylor was originally a 6th round pick of the Los Angeles Chargers in 2022. Despite being a late round pick, he went on to start 11 games for them over the next 3 and a half years. Like Dugger, he was also shipped out by his drafting team at last year’s trade deadline. He finished the year with the New York Jets, where he started 1 game.
Taylor has 1 career interception and 15 pass breakups in his career. Since his signing, a highlight of him breaking up a pass while in coverage against Ja’Marr Chase has popped up.
The Bengals lost Marco Wilson earlier in the offseason, who served as a depth player and special teamer. Taylor likely will come in and compete for this same role.
