Matthew Judon sounds like Bill Belichick when talking Patriots contract status

The ongoing situation between the Patriots and Matthew Judon has been a dominant story throughout the offseason. The pass rusher was presumed to be one of the leading candidates to receive a contract extension to keep him on the team beyond the 2024 season, but the new regime has yet to make that happen despite the countless new contracts they've handed out over the last few months.

Because they failed to get a deal negotiated before training camp, Judon's status remains in question and has become one of the focuses of summer practices since they began over two weeks ago.

It has been a dramatic situation during that time, with Judon having animated conversations with coaches and executives, and then missing several days of practice until returning this week.

Jerod Mayo addressed the situation in recent days and reiterated his desire to see Judon remain with the team, claiming they had a good conversation after their seemingly heated talk on the practice field last week.

But when Judon was made available to reporters after Monday's practice, it didn't seem like the contract extension was any closer to getting done than it was just one week ago.

Matthew Judon says a lot without saying a lot when speaking to reporters after Monday's practice

Despite the positive sign that things might be moving in the right direction between Judon and the Patriots by him attending his first practice in nearly a week, the pass rusher was not willing to provide many details about what has been going on behind the scenes regarding his contract status.

He seemed to take a page out of the Bill Belichick handbook of how to handle answering the tough questions and referred reporters to the coaching staff and the executives for some of the more hard-hitting inquiries about how the last week has gone.

Question: What did Mayo and Wolf say about practice?

Judon: "You talk to them."

Question: Do you feel like a contract is close?

Judon: "You gotta talk to them. Like I told y'all before, I will play myself so we never talk about it. It's not up to me."

While it's a better approach to handling the ongoing situation, it doesn't provide much optimism about what to expect from the Patriots in the future. It would be best to keep Judon around, as he has been their most consistently productive defensive player since signing with the team in 2021.

That was made even more apparent when he missed nearly the entire 2023 season due to an injury he sustained against the Cowboys in Week 4. The defense almost fell apart in his absence and didn't come together until later in the season, further proving Judon's value to the team.

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