New rumor paints an uglier situation between the Patriots and Matthew Judon

If you thought the drama surrounding the Patriots and Matthew Judon regarding their lack of interest in offering a contract extension and ultimately trading him was over, you were unfortunately wrong.

Despite the trade being nearly two weeks old, more details are being revealed by Patriots reporters and insiders regarding the happenings behind the scenes in Foxboro surrounding the Judon saga. It seemed like how each side felt had become known, especially since the pass rusher spoke to Boston reporters before moving to Atlanta, but apparently, that's not exactly the case.

It was clear things had gotten increasingly ugly over the offseason as Judon was vying for a new contract to increase his 2024 salary and keep him in New England for the foreseeable future.

Because he was coming off a season-ending injury and was about to turn 32 years old, there was speculation that the new regime in Foxboro was hesitant to keep him around, which resulted in his trade to the NFC South a couple of weeks ago.

With the trade being a done deal and fans moving on from the Judon era, of course it was time to reignite the fire and add more rumors to the seemingly dead drama. That's exactly what Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer did during a recent appearance on NBC Sports Boston after Mike Felger begged for a better report than what Breer initially had planned to share.

New rumor suggests the Patriots had more issues with Matthew Judon than just his desire for a contract extension

After what seemed to be an amicable split, at least from Judon's side, Breer revealed there were more issues behind the scenes than anyone had a clue about.

The longtime Patriots reporter suggested that the new coaching staff weren't exactly fond of the four-time Pro Bowler to the point of being "sick of him," which played a part in their decision to trade him for a 2025 third-round pick.

"Judon was not as well-liked by the coaches and front office people as you might have thought. 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."

It is a detail that had not been widely known nor even hinted at until it came out of Breer's mouth on Friday, bringing the intentions into question to be revealed now.

Breer elaborated further on the chatter, stating that Judon's behavior on social media was interpreted as fake and that his increasingly bad attitude this summer was the last straw for the coaching staff.

"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. 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."

Is there truth to this revelation? Could the Patriots be taking the opportunity to bad-talk a former player now that he's out of the building? We'll probably never know. But it's not a great look either way.

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