I think some people on the board just have a very different view of Dugger than the general consensus, maybe because he had to play somewhat out of position last year. ESPN/PFF/CBS/FOX etc all rank him as our top FA, and all but FOX (28th) had him as a top 25 player in this FA class.
Edit- I think Dugger is the best of the hybrid/box safeties available, most of the guys getting cut are more over the top safeties. I think the flood is good for NE though... 1, it helps bring Dugger's cost on a long term deal down (or they just get him for the 1 year, also fine) but also 2.... it might bring the cost down where adding someone like McKinney or Curl to play the high safety role.