Matthew Judon Replacement? Patriots Rising Star Pumps Brakes On Comparison

FOXBORO, Mass. — Keion White doesn’t view himself as Matthew Judon’s replacement.

That narrative was plenty popular leading into Patriots training camp, and picked up after New England traded Judon to the Atlanta Falcons. White, however, believes that is a job for New England’s outside rushers, including Joshua Uche and Oshane Ximines.

“I’m an interior rusher, I feel like. We got good outside rushers outside of me,” White told NESN.com after the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Patriots 14-13 at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night. “That’s not my role to fill. I feel like my role is to be the interior rusher that I’ve been.”

I feel like my role is to be the interior rusher that I’ve been.

Keion White

White confirmed his personal preference is to play on the interior. He started on the edge against the Eagles, but moved inside when Deatrich Wise Jr. and Uche entered the game on the first third down of the game. White did come off the edge on a third down, however, doing so opposite edge rusher Anfernee Jennings when Daniel Ekuale and Jeremiah Pharms Jr. were on the interior.

“I’m a slow rusher outside and a fast rusher inside,” White said. “So usually first and second down, when it’s run-pass option, I rush on the outside. But if you have an obvious pass situation, I’d rather kick down on the inside and rush the passer and get those mismatches.”

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White created a mismatch wherever he lined up Thursday night. His lone sack came when he rushed on the edge against Eagles offensive lineman Max Scharping. But White had a near-sack at the end of the first half when he rushed from the interior.

White recorded one of five sacks for the Patriots, multiple coming when New England rushed with four. Wise tallied a sack of his own shortly after White, and Uche was the first to bring down Eagles backup quarterback Kenny Pickett.

While New England’s success came against a backup unit from Philadelphia, much like it did in the preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers, White and others are confident it will translate against starting groups.

“I feel like we’ve showed what we needed to show,” White said. “Obviously, if you’re going against a backup offense and you’re going to have starters out there we should dominate, we should get sacks and things like that. I feel like if we weren’t getting the sacks it would be more of a (cause for concern), but because we’re getting the sacks, we feel a little bit better.

“And I feel like we had a pretty good joint practice against them as far as pressuring the quarterback and doing the same thing against the starters, as well. So you can do that and build upon it and correct things that need to be corrected and things like that.”

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo called the trade of Judon a “win-win.” New England received a third-round pick and Atlanta improved its defense as it makes a run for the NFC South title.

So while White might not feel like he’s the plug-and-play replacement given his own preferences, it’s clear the Patriots are confident in the pass-rush production the second-year defender will have.

“I feel like we have the next man up mentality,” White said. “Obviously (Judon) is going to be missed and it’s big shoes to fill, but I’m confident in the guys we have to fill his shoes.”