Kyle Dugger Active For Patriots-Bills Wild Card Game
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Patriots will have the services of safety Kyle Dugger when they take on the Bills in Saturday night's Wild Card showdown in Buffalo. Dugger is active for the playoff tilt after dealing with a hand injury the last two weeks.
Dugger had a large, club-like wrap on his hand during warm-ups, so we'll see how much he'll be able to do tackling-wise against the Bills. The hand injury forced him to sit out Week 18's loss to the Miami Dolphins, and he was limited all week in practice leading up to Saturday night's game.
But having Dugger out there should help the New England secondary against Josh Allen and Buffalo's passing attack, in addition to the defense's efforts against the Buffalo run game. His presence is big since the Patriots won't have No. 2 corner Jalen Mills. He remains on the Reserve/COVID list, which will put more responsibility on Myles Bryant and Joejuan Williams in the secondary.
New England also elevated cornerbacks De'Vante Bausby and D'Angelo Ross from the practice squad for Saturday's game to help fill out the cornerback depth chart.
The Patriots defense will also have defensive tackle Christian Barmore and linebacker Dont'a Hightower on Saturday night, as both are active after being listed as questionable on Friday. New England had seven players on its inactive list for Saturday night's game:
Isaiah Wynn, Tackle
Devin Asiasi, Tight End
J.J. Taylor, Running Back
Jarrett Stidham, Quarterback
Carl Davis, Nose Tackle
Chase Winovich, Defensive End
Kristian Wilkerson, Wide Receiver
With Wilkerson inactive, that means N'Keal Harry is active for Saturday's game.
Wynn was ruled out on Friday's injury report, which will leave either Justin Herron or potentially Trent Brown protecting Mac Jones' blind side on Saturday night. Wynn left last week's game after just nine snaps with an ankle injury.