FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots outside linebacker Matthew Judon, who previously said he doesn’t feel his contract reflects his value and was seeking an upgrade, didn’t participate in the team’s first full-pads practice of training camp Monday after having been a full participant in four prior practices.
Although Judon didn’t take part in the practice, his presence as the session began — and how the new regime of first-year head coach Jerod Mayo and executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf addressed it — came close to overshadowing the action on the field.
Judon was sitting on a trash barrel watching defenders go through drills early when Mayo approached him. Mayo spoke to Judon for a short period of time, and then Judon got up, said something to Mayo in what appeared to be animated fashion and walked off the field.
Judon also spoke passionately with Wolf and director of player personnel Matt Groh, which might have been related to comments he has made publicly regarding displeasure with his contract status.
For example, in a preview clip of an upcoming appearance on the “Shut Up Marc” podcast, Judon said, “I love football. I don’t love the business of football. I don’t want to be the villain. I don’t want to be the bad guy. But it’s like ‘Shoot, help me out. We got the most cap [space] in the league right now.”
Judon said on the podcast that he wrote his own contract proposal to the Patriots but hasn’t received a response. It was unclear when the podcast was recorded, but on July 24, Judon told reporters at Patriots training camp he wasn’t happy entering the final year of his contract that calls for him to earn a base salary of $6.5 million.
“Honestly, it’s tough going into the last year of the deal. You kind of look at everybody around the league and in the building, and you see them getting deals done and worked out, and it’s tough to not be envious or jealous and stuff like that,” he said that day.
“But I have to focus on myself. I’m happy for those guys. As much as everybody wants to see me stay around here for a long time, it’s really not up to me. You have to ask those guys who are making those decisions.”
The turn of events Monday came one day after the Patriots announced that defensive tackle Christian Barmore, whom Judon has helped mentor the past three seasons and who signed a four-year contract worth up to $92 million in April, has been diagnosed with blood clots and is out indefinitely.
In last year’s training camp, Judon also initially didn’t practice until his contract was sweetened. That was under the prior regime led by former coach Bill Belichick.
In June, Judon had told WZLX in Boston that he didn’t want to do it again. He missed 13 games last season after sustaining a torn biceps in a Week 4 loss to Dallas.
“You kind of keep throwing tantrums, tantrums, tantrums — and then you don’t come out there and do what you’re supposed to do — it kind of gets old real fast. I ain’t really trying to do that,” he said in the radio interview. “I ain’t worried about holding out, sitting out, or sitting in, kind of protesting. I’m just going to come out here and kind of play, because last year, that stuff was trash. I ain’t really like that.”