Patriots Must Create Cap Room to Sign 2020 Draft Pick Kyle Dugger

The New England Patriots have signed all but one of their draft picks from this year's draft class, and it will remain that way until they free up some cap space.

The lone draft pick that has yet to sign with the Patriots is second-round pick Kyle Dugger, who was New England's highest draft pick this year. The six-time Super Bowl champions have $650,545 in available cap space currently, but need just under an additional $300,000 in order to sign the rookie safety out of Lenoir-Rhyne, according to Boston Sports Journal's Miguel Benzan. Per OverTheCap's rookie wage scale, Dugger's 2020 cap hit will be $1.49 million.

There are several ways New England can free up enough cap space to sign Dugger, while also leaving themselves some room to work with during the season. Restructuring Stephon Gilmore, Marcus Cannon, or Shaq Mason's contracts would do the trick. Extending Joe Thuney - who is currently playing playing on the one-year, $14.7 million franchise tag - would free up lots of room, as well as extending Dont'a Hightower or even Julian Edelman.

One has to wonder if their cap situation this offseason was one of the reasons why the Patriots decided to trade out of the first round. While there was still plenty of value to be had early in the second round, bringing in a first round pick would have required them to create even more cap room than they have to now for Dugger.