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Heading into training camp, the New England Patriots still have one key player they need to get things worked out with when it comes to their remaining contract situations.
Veteran Matthew Judon heads into the final year of his deal while slated to make just $6.5 million in base salary, which is well below his value at that position. The club accelerated his contract last spring after Judon ‘held in’, which is something the linebacker has said he’s not planning on doing this time around.
The veteran was out there and was a full participant during the recent mandatory minicamps, and his recent radio appearance with Rich Shertenlieb on WZLX indicated that, when it came to getting something done, “We ain’t far apart, you feel me?” he said during that interview.
However, Gred Bedard of Boston Sports Journal said in a recent podcast that despite Judon saying the right things, he believes that if a deal doesn’t come to fruition, things may not stay that way.
“I know Judon has said the right things, we talked about it on the last podcast, he went on Rich’s [Shertenlieb] show and basically said he wasn’t going to do what he did last year,” said Bedard. “I have reason to believe that will not be true. But I will say that there are rumblings that there are a couple of big contract issues with the Patriots, and they stem from Christian Barmore’s deal.”
Bedard believes that Barmore’s deal changed the landscape, which has complicated the situations of both Judon and Davon Godchaux, which may make it difficult when it comes to agreeing on their values. That’s something Jerod Mayo hinted at last week when it came to player negotiations.
“There are guys that, obviously, they want to redo contracts and stuff like that. And not just DG, it’s a bunch of guys that want to do those things,” said Mayo. “And we’re working through it. Eliot [Wolfe] and his staff, they do a great job as far as handling that. I don’t get into the player contracts.”
“What I will say is, one thing I’ve learned is sometimes the value that the team has on a person is a little bit different than the value that the market has on a person. And so those are just things I’m learning, guys. Like I told you guys before, I’m green, but I’m learning. I’m evolving, and these are the conversations that have to be had.”
One positive takeaway from this spring has been the emergence on the other side of the ball of Keion White. He’s a player who Mayo previously praised during the spring, and White’s made some noise early on so far heading into this preseason.
Given where they’re currently at, Bedard even wonders that should negotiations go sideways with Judon, if White might end up being the player who picks up that slack and allows them to weather it.
“He’s almost immediately from the get-go in OTAs, seeing him out there, him standing up, the two-point stance, it’s extremely exciting and his development, and again, it’s not pads, but you could see the impact,” said Bedard. “And just his physicality, I just love the idea of him standing up. When he was drafted, I had a hard time wrapping my head around exactly where he was going to play because he was a tweener and he was basically like Deatrich Wise’s sort of understudy and then he gained more and more playing time last year. But I think his athletic ability is his strength and standing him up and using him like that can make him really impactful and I’m really excited to see what he can do.”
“And I also think the offshoot of that is, well, if Keion White’s now an edge and they already have Anfernee Jennings and Josh Uche, and if Matthew Judon is going to have an issue with his contract, does that make Matthew Judon expendable? I think that’s a very real possibility at this point.”
We’ll see how things play out. Judon had racked up four sacks, nine quarterback hits, and a safety in just four games last season before he suffered what turned out to be a season-ending elbow injury against Dallas in Week 4.
His production is something that the club was definitely missing last season. Still, if they can’t agree on a new deal for Judon and ultimately decide to turn the page, it should be interesting to see if White could indeed become that player for New England moving forward.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Portions of the above appeared in this morning’s daily news and notes column.)
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