Patriots training camp takeaways: Judon addresses contract impasse on Day 1 originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
FOXBORO – Matthew Judon has been masterful in his contract impasse thus far.
I’ve seen them over 28 seasons: Lawyer to Law, Vince to Adam, Randy to Logan, Wes to Steph to Deion to Seymour to Thomas Edward Patrick Brady.
The sense of humor is the first victim. Then a veiled (or overt) bitterness towards the team for taking advantage of them. A bit of withholding of services sometimes. So in the end, either they get what they want or they get the gate.
You can get one caustic press conference. Or one “ask Mr. Kraft.”
Nobody did it like Judon did. In truth. Realist. That’s transparent he is hurt and a little jealous (even though he says he doesn’t envy others getting his money). And open about the fact that even though he’s not excited, he has no choice but to play.
“Honestly, it’s tough going into the last year of the deal,” Judon said. “You kind of look at everyone in the league and in the building, and you see them closing and making deals, and it’s hard not to be envious or jealous and things like that.
“But I have to focus on myself. I’m happy for these guys. As much as everyone wants to see me stay here a long time, it’s not up to me. You have to ask these guys who are making these decisions.”
It’s a bit of a misnomer for Judon to point out the pay raises so many of his teammates got this offseason. The biggest ones – Mike Onwenu, Christian Barmore, Rhamondre Stevenson, Kyle Dugger – went to guys who were picked in the sixth, second, fourth and second rounds, respectively. This is the second big-money contract for all of them.
Onwenu earned about $5.5 million in his first four years before inking his $57 million contract in March. Judon has earned $66 million so far.
Either way, Judon — who is in line to make a maximum of $7.5 million this year and has nothing guaranteed until the first week of the season — is the 27th-leading edge rusher in terms of APY on his current contract. And he’s better than the 27th best edge rusher in the league.
Will Judon play? By answering this question, Judon showed that he achieved a concept that had eluded generations of athletes.
“I did it, honestly,” he said. “I signed the agreement. My signature is on it. I would like? No. Do I think that’s my worth? No. But then again, that’s not up to me.”
Judon, who retweeted a fan’s trade proposal that said Judon would go to the Niners, was asked if he wants to be traded.
“Do I want to be traded? Of course not,” Judon replied. “I don’t think anyone wants to be traded. Honestly, I don’t manage my Twitter, bro.
“It’s not up to me,” he continued. “You can only control what you can control. There are so many things that happen in our everyday lives that we have to respond to. If I get traded, that’s not up to me. I’m responding to all the variables in my life, as a father, as a son, as a brother, as an uncle and as a football player. God has blessed me with a lot of talents and a lot of attributes and a lot of charisma and all these things, but that’s something I can’t control. , or I saw negotiations for Atlanta, Detroit, all that stuff – the things that you see, I see too. But I just don’t believe it, once they tell me I’m gone, that’s when I’m gone.
For now, Judon is here and on the field. This is probably how things will progress, given Judon’s reasonable approach to being displeased. And eventually he will get a bump. But it’s an interesting obstacle for the new Patriots regime to face.
Coach Jerod Mayo empowered his players to be themselves. He received a nine-minute rant on the first day of camp from one of his best players. And it’s not even Mayo’s jurisdiction. The salary cap and contracts are the domain of personnel chief Eliot Wolf. And except for a few confusing and light-hearted national interviews after the draft, Wolf remained silent and out of sight.
Judon’s impasse – and Davon Godchaux’s contract irritation – will not short-circuit the season. But how the team handles it will say something about how this regime works when things get a little hairy.
With this being the first day of camp, the Patriots were in the so-called “acceleration” period of camp. It’s basically an extension of minicamp with minimal contact. The team will be on the field from Monday. So, on a rainy Wednesday with temperatures in the mid-70s, the team began training at 11 a.m. with dynamic stretching before entering positional drills.
The more competitive parts of the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 training began around 11:50 a.m. and the team headed to the conditioning hill at 12:27 p.m.
Mayo said before practice that he would “float” and that’s what he did especially during positional work. He started with the edge rushers and grabbed a bag to hit guys as they came off the edge in a kick and block drill. His second stop was at the offensive line, then he went to the linebackers, where Dont’a Hightower, who appears capable of playing some snaps, demonstrated a footwork drill. After a check-in with strength coach (and brother) Deron Mayo, the head coach headed to defensive line practice, where owner Robert Kraft was watching closely. It was unusual to see Kraft so close to a group during an exercise.
Whether it was just because the team had more coaches than during Bill Belichick’s tenure or there were more scouts and personnel on the field, it felt like there were more people on the field than we’re used to seeing.
The aforementioned Judon and Davon Godchaux, who is also dissatisfied with his 2024 salary, participated in training and teamwork.
One of the early good plays for the offense came when Jacoby Brissett hit free agent tight end Austin Hooper down the seam for a dive of about 15 yards.
This was followed soon after by a deep throw on the right sideline from rookie Drake Maye to wideout Jalen Reagor, who caught the one-handed throw about 45 yards downfield and ran into the end zone. Maye followed with a well-placed throw to rookie Ja’Lynn Polk that hit Polk’s hands in traffic but fell incomplete.
It was interesting to see how much work Maye put in with presumed offensive starters, a sign that the competition between him and Brissett will give the rookie every chance to showcase his skill and develop quickly.
There’s still a lot of juggling on the sideline and offensive line, so it’s difficult to define exactly who goes first. Calvin Anderson was the starting right tackle most of the day, followed by rookie Caedan Wallace.
The outside corner opposite Christian Gonzalez used to be Alex Austin. Marcus Jones had a lot of work at slot corner.
Bailey Zappe, who was on a field adjacent to Maye and Brissett, split reps with rookie Joe Milton as they began team practices.
