3 Former Patriots Who Failed Miserably With Their New Teams in Week 1

3. Matthew Judon, EDGE, Falcons

The list of former Patriots players who "failed" miserably in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season is admittedly short, at least in terms of players who are on new teams this year. With that in mind, let's take a look at what Matthew Judon did in his first opportunity as a member of the Atlanta Falcons.

It wasn't a terrible outing by Judon, by any stretch. He had half a sack in his Falcons debut and one QB hit along with one pressure. Again, not bad.

But the Falcons were upset on their home field by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were forced to start Justin Fields as opposed to Russell Wilson due to Wilson having a calf injury issue.

Judon wanted out of New England this offseason due to a contractual battle that was going on with the team and even went on record after the trade to the Falcons as saying he wasn't going to put up the same type of fuss in Atlanta because of the fact that the Falcons' organization didn't know him well enough to pay him.

Judon became enough of a distraction in New England that the Patriots put him on the trade block during the preseason and the Falcons were the highest bidders for his services.

Meanwhile in New England, the Patriots got a Week 1 upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals and Keion White was disrupting Joe Burrow just about every single play. White finished with 3 QB hits, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble, and two tackles for loss.

Having Matt Judon in New England would be nice, but the Keion White era is officially upon us. Judon's team took a loss at home in Week 1 while the Pats played spoiler on the road. It might not be a massive failure for Judon (who still doesn't have a new contract) but it's a massive W for the Patriots.

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