Some Patriots news and notes for this morning:
Judon Situation Deteriorating?
Heading into the Patriots mandatory minicamp last month, things appeared to be moving in a positive direction with Matthew Judon in terms of the club possibly extending him and keeping the veteran in the fold for the foreseeable future.
Apparently, that’s no longer the case.
Judon, who is set to head into the 2024 season with just a $6.5 million base salary, essentially revealed over the last couple of days on social media that those talks seem to be at a standstill.
After a user posted on “X” that “If the @Patriots don’t give @man_dammn an extension this season we’re f****d.. pay the man what he wants, we want a solid defense,” Judon replied, “[I don’t] think that’s about to happen.”
Not long after, Judon added another post with a Spongebob Meme that said, “IGHT IMMA HEAD OUT,” which then showed the character backing out the door, which closed behind him.
While it could have just been Judon exiting the conversation, especially after the platform blew up following his first comment, it’s clear that any progress toward a meaningful resolution hasn’t happened.
That’s a change from just a few weeks ago when Judon was asked by Boston Sports Journal writer Mike Giardi about his status for this year in an interview on WZLK’s “The Rich Schertenlieb Show. At the time, he said the two sides were close.
“Bro, I’m in the building right now,” said Judon. “We ain’t far apart, you feel me? You’ve seen me with my helmet and jersey on. I’m not mad.”
He also criticized his own stance from a year ago, where the veteran was on hand but didn’t participate. That led to the club ultimately accelerating his salary and giving him a bump in pay ahead of last season.
“I ain’t worried about holding out, sitting out … kind of protesting. … Because that, last year, that stuff was trash,” said Judon. “I ain’t really like that. Like I’m a football player, I don’t want to get into the agency side. So I’m gonna come out here and play some football.”
Whether or not that remains the case remains to be seen. But the possibility of Judon not being out there for 2024, whether he sits out or if the club opts to possibly cut or move him ahead of the season, is now the key question.
![Dec 24, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore (90) reacts after a play ]in the third quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports](https://www.patsfans.com/patriots/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/USATSI_22172527_168390408_lowres.jpg)
What Happened with Judon?
While Judon may have been saying the right things prior to this week, Greg Bedard said a couple of weeks ago that he believed all wasn’t necessarily well between the two sides.
He pointed out that the extension with Christian Barmore has complicated the situations of both Judon and Davon Godchaux, and that it’s created some friction in the negotiations with those players.
“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.”
Barmore’s four-year contract was agreed to at the end of April. At the time, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that the deal had a maximum value of $92 million, and Jeremy Fowler reported that Barmore’s deal would include $41.8 million in guaranteed money.
That likely reset the benchmark that both veterans are now trying to measure against, with each likely trying to establish where their value falls in comparison. However, one player’s perception of value may not necessarily match how they’re viewed by the team, which is a situation Jerod Mayo alluded to last month.
“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.”
So far, it doesn’t feel like either conversation is going quite as well as we would have hoped.
Who Will Replace Matthew Judon for the Patriots?
One positive takeaway from this spring has been the emergence of second-year player Keion White. He’s someone who Mayo previously praised during the spring after White seemingly made some noise during both OTAs and minicamp.
Bedard also said last month that he feels White may be the guy the Patriots are counting on to step into Judon’s shoes, especially if they do, in fact, move on from him.
“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.”
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.
The problem is at 31-years old, Judon’s playing for a team that may be multiple years away from returning to where he believed it was when he got here. As a result, the club may bite the bullet and explore moving him while trying to add draft capital as they continue looking toward the future.
It’s unfortunate, especially for a player who has been fun to watch and has also both said and done the right things since he’s been here.
Still, it’s a business, and the Patriots have some difficult decisions to make. But if Judon’s comments are any indication, it’s starting to feel like the Patriots might be closer making quite a big one in the coming weeks.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
Judon, is an impact player, and as such I would sign him this year and go year by year given his age. The problem is, Judon got paid to-date and was appeased so far. However, he only worked the month of September last season and that is not what the patriots football operations paid for. Injuries is life in the NFL, and the risk accepted by teams putting out big money for individual players. None the less, it’s a factor on this negotiation I’m sure. And the pats can roster the edge position and have jJudon under contract this year.… Read more »