Matthew Judon should have followed teammates' approach to new Patriots contract

Although the drama surrounding Matthew Judon's pursuit of a contract extension with the Patriots seemingly came to a close due to his trade to the Falcons a few weeks ago, it's still a topic of conversation amongst Patriots fans and reporters, as more details are being revealed.

From the allegations about the new front office not being too fond of the star pass rusher to his rejection of a trade to the Bears, rumors have been flying since Judon arrived in Atlanta, none of which are too favorable for either side.

Within that discussion comes the shared details from another Patriots defender seeking a new contract this offseason and began a holdout during training camp. It was known that Davon Godchaux was unlikely to play on the final year of his contract in 2024 since he had already made all of his guaranteed money, so his decision not to participate in training camp was expected.

What was surprising, however, was his detailed account of the events that led to his eventual new contract, which he signed at the end of last month, a two-year deal worth up to $21 million.

The nose tackle discussed the negotiations on his YouTube channel last week, revealing rarely heard accounts of the process that led to a new contract. This seemed to prove his approach was the right one, as opposed to Judon's.

Davon Godchaux's negotiation process is a lesson for Matthew Judon

In the conversation with quarterback Jacoby Brissett, Godchaux discussed his desire not to be a distraction at the start of training camp, especially for a new head coach and staff. He discussed not participating in OTAs a couple of months before, having just worked out at the facility and then gone home, and opening the contract negotiation discussion with Eliot Wolf during minicamp.

Godchaux told the vice president of player personnel that he would not be active during training camp, which led to Wolf calling him to resolve the situation. That's when the defender spoke about not having any guarantees on his contract, which doesn't make him want to be there despite their obvious need for a solid run-stuffer for the season ahead.

That's when his approach changed, and what appears to have convinced the Patriots' staff that he should remain on the team even more than they previously believed.

"The second day, he called me and was like 'Look, what's going on? We want you to be out on the field practicing.'’ I’m like, 'Look Eliot, I ain't got guarantees.' I get it. This day and age, the top pass rushers are getting paid big money, but you also need a guy to come in and stop the run. If the run don’t get stopped, then you can forget about the pass rush. I guarantee those guys don't want to be in double teams all day every day.

I'm like, 'Let's try to make it somewhere where we can make it fair. I'm not gonna do nothing against (the Philadelphia Eagles),' the joint practices. Me and my agent end up taking a whole other approach when it came to training camp. I practiced in pads the first couple days, and then about the third day in pads, I got paid. We was just like a million or two off. I'm like 'Eliot, let's just get this done. I wanna be here, you guys want me here. Let's just get it done.' And then we end up getting it done."

While it's certainly possible that there's nothing Judon could have done to convince the team that he deserved a new contract, especially with the wild rumors suggesting why a deal didn't get done, following Godchaux's approach to the situation might have served him better in getting a deal done.

We'll never know the truth about why the decision to trade him was made or why they were so insistent on not keeping him around, despite his obvious importance to the defense's success.

Hopefully, future potential holdouts will follow how Godchaux went about things so we won't have more dramatic situations to pay attention to in Foxboro.

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