Patriots Rumors: Details On Matthew Judon Relationship Before Trade

The Patriots and Matthew Judon seemed to have a cordial relationship until the pass rusher was traded, but things might not have been that way behind the scenes.

New England traded Judon to the Atlanta Falcons for a third-round pick after weeks of tension about the 32-year-old’s desire for a new contract. Head coach Jerod Mayo claimed things were mended between the sides, and despite his displeasure over how talks played out, Judon was happy to move on.

It seemed like the main sticking point was compensation, but Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer painted an ugly picture of how the Patriots organization viewed Judon.

“Judon was not as well-liked by the coaches and front office people as you might have thought,” Breer said on “Boston Sports Tonight” on Thursday, per NBC Sports Boston. “That was really part of it at the end, was that they were just sick of him.

“They felt like there was the public-facing Judon, and then there was Judon behind the scenes. The Judon behind the scenes had sort of become a little bit of an operator, and his act had worn thin with people inside the building. And it’s something that was an issue in Baltimore, too, quite honestly.”

New England spent the majority of the offseason re-signing key players. Judon was the lone notable player to not receive his much-desired extension, unlike Davon Godchaux, who also had a contract dispute at the same time but got his resolved. Judon previously said he would play out the final year of his contract without an extension, but it quickly became clear that might not be the case.

“It’s not saying he’s a bad guy, but there was some of this sort of cheerleader stuff on social media that a lot of people in the organization would roll their eyes at,” Breer said. “And then when he became a problem this summer, there was, ‘All right, what do we do to move him off the roster now? Because we’re trying to build a new program, and we don’t want this hovering over us.’ So, I think there’s a little bit more to the Judon trade than just the contract situation.”

The Patriots will have to figure out a replacement for Judon before the regular season begins as well as one for Christian Barmore, who is out indefinitely due to blood clots. And it will be a wait-and-see regarding how the Judon trade pays off for New England.