Linebacker · San Francisco 49ers
Jaden Dugger
No. 53 · Rookie
K.J. Wright watched Jaden Dugger and saw himself
There is a specific kind of compliment that lands differently. Not 'great player' or 'going to be special' -- but 'reminds me of me.' K.J. Wright, a linebacker who spent over a decade making plays in the NFL, said exactly that about Jaden Dugger.
Dugger is with the San Francisco 49ers now, still building toward something. What Wright saw in him -- the movement, the instincts, whatever it was that made him stop and say 'that's familiar' -- is the kind of recognition that tends to stick to a player's name for a while.
Wright was not exactly a footnote. When a player of that standing watches a young one and reaches for his own reflection, it means something. The question now is whether Dugger knows what to do with that.
““I kid you not, when I watched Dugger and the first 15 plays, I was like, ‘I’ve got to have this dude. I’ve got to have him. I just looked at his frame, I looked at his speed, and he had this one play that not too many linebackers can make. It was a reverse. It started to his right, and it went to his left. Most guys are late on reverses, but I saw this guy move to his right, and he went to his left so quick.””
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