The contract dispute between the Patriots and edge rusher Matthew Judon continues.
Judon had been participating in practice and head coach Jerod Mayo had told reporters that the team was “moving past the Judon thing,” but something must have changed. Via Mike Reiss of ESPN, Judon did not participate in Tuesday’s practice after team stretch.
Reiss noted that while Judon had hinted when speaking to reporters on Monday that he could play under his current contract, he didn’t mention anything about practice.
Injuries limited Judon to just four games last year after he registered 15.5 sacks in 2022. He was still productive in the games he played, recording 4.0 sacks with five tackles for loss and nine QB hits.
He’s now entering the last year of his contract and is scheduled to make $6.5 million in base salary. That’s the current issue.
“We have a market, it’s set by the highest [paid] guy, then everybody falls in line until the next person is up to break that [top] contract,” Judon said on Monday, via Reiss. “Coming from the season I had, I was injured mostly all season, so that’s not really where my market is. But like I said, I don’t think it’s $6.5 [million].”
Judon has recorded 66.5 sacks, 87 tackles for loss, and 165 quarterback hits in his 144 career games for Baltimore and New England.