Matt Judon Clarifies Holdout Status Ahead of Patriots Minicamp
By Jovan Alford
New England Patriots pass rusher Matt Judon is looking for a contract extension this season as he’s expected to become an unrestricted free agent in 2025.
Judon didn’t participate in voluntary OTAs last month, which sent off alarm bells for Patriots fans as he’s been one of their premier EDGE rushers over the past few years. However, head coach Jerod Mayo quelled the noise saying that Judon’s absence isn’t unusual and called him a true professional.
Judon was asked by reporters almost a week later if he’d be in attendance at minicamp and he responded with “Hell yeah.” To his credit, the veteran pass rusher stuck to his words and showed up to Pats’ minicamp on Monday.
However, on Tuesday, the 32-year-old Judon was on The Rich Shertenlieb Show on WZLX in Boston, where Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal asked him about his current contract situation. Giardi pointed out that Judon was “coy” about fully participating in some training camp stuff and asked if fans could see something similar.
Question (via @MikeGiardi): Is there anything being done about [your contract]? Last year, obviously something was done about it. Whether you were holding in or not, there was some debate about that, which you were kind of coy with; about not fully participating in some of the… https://t.co/cMzuWpv00w
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) June 11, 2024
Judon clarified his stance and told Giardi that he’s trying to get ready for the season. He added that he’s not worried about holding out and that throwing tantrums gets old really quickly.
"Right now, I’m just going to get ready to play. 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."
- Matt Judon
The four-time Pro Bowl defensive end is taking the right approach when it comes to his contract situation. Judon understands what he needs to do and if the team is starting to win, that will bode well for him.
"I’m just trying to come out here and play football, get ready for this upcoming season, and put our defense and ourselves in a position to where we can win the most games, or to be the most effective... 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. I’m a football player... I’m going to come out here and play some football."
- Matt Judon
The veteran defensive playmaker only played in four games last season after suffering a torn biceps injury. However, before last season, Judon was coming off an impressive 2022 season, where he had 60 combined tackles, 28 quarterback hits, 15.5 sacks (career-high), 14 tackles for loss, three pass deflections, and two forced fumbles.
If Judon comes anywhere close to those numbers this season, the Patriots' defense will be a force to be reckoned with and he’ll get a nice payday on top of that.
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