Matthew Judon's tactics for extension with Patriots made it easy to trade him

The ongoing saga between the Patriots and Matthew Judon ended last week when the team ultimately decided it was better to trade their star pass rusher to the Falcons rather than extend him beyond the 2024 season.

The move was met with conflicting reactions from fans and analysts. Some believed it was the right thing to do considering the third-round compensation, while others felt trading away arguably your best defensive player would prove to be a big mistake.

No matter which side of the argument you're on, reports continue to reveal more behind the scenes details surrounding the trade and what led to Judon heading to the NFC South. Given his reaction on social media, it seemed as though he wasn't thrilled with his fate.

However, a new report from The Athletic's Jeff Howe suggests the four-time Pro Bowler's decision to give the Patriots an ultimatum may have worked against him and not in his favor.

Matthew Judon's tactics for a new contract appears to have badly backfired

Over the past year, Judon has made it apparent that he wanted to remain with the Patriots until he decided to retire. It was a sentiment he shared in recent weeks despite the chaos ensuing on the practice field and regarding his contract negotiations.

While that might have been true, Howe revealed that he provided the Patriots with an ultimatum if they weren't going to better his contract, a decision that looks to have been more costly for him than likely initially anticipated.

"Judon had previously told the Patriots to trade him if they weren’t going to sweeten his contract, and teams around the league knew it."

Perhaps this explains the drama we saw during training camp a few weeks ago between Judon, Jerod Mayo, and Eliot Wolf, which led to the linebacker abruptly leaving practice and not returning until the following week.

The rumor mill suggested that the conversation with Judon after that incident likely included their decision to trade him, hence why he was back at practice and participating. This put on a good show for teams interested in trading for him, which would eventually happen just days later.

It was a decision that, according to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, the Patriots involved Judon in, allowing him to choose between the Bears and the Falcons for his next team since they both offered third-round picks as compensation.

It was an absolute steal for the Patriots to acquire such a high draft pick for the 32-year-old, who is coming off a season-ending injury. Most projected they would get nothing higher than a fifth-rounder, so to acquire something much better with the intention of building a young roster through the draft couldn't have been easily declined.

This revelation, however, adds interesting context to a dividing issue amongst fans. Judon may have repeatedly stated he wanted to remain a Patriot, but this seems to suggest the opposite.

No matter what, at least the new regime in New England attempted to do as right by him as possible by giving him the chance to pick his next team, even if that team has not offered a contract extension which led to this entire situation to begin with.

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