Training camp stock watch: Pats see a young pass-rusher pop in Judon’s absence originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
FOXBORO — You won’t find Matthew Judon in the Stock Up or Stock Down categories for Day 6 of Patriots training camp.
Not only did he not practice, he was also not planning to be in the facility for meetings on Tuesday. A Patriots spokesperson was asked if it was the team’s decision for Judon to remain away from the facility and declined comment.
Here is where things stand after his on-the-field back-and-forth with (first) Jerod Mayo and (later) Eliot Wolf and Matt Groh on Day 5.
The Patriots have made Judon an offer. He has been looking for something deemed to be more in line with his production based on the ballooning market for pass-rushers, and he’s commented publicly on the amount of cap space with which the Patriots are currently operating.
There is a sizable gap between where the two sides sit as of Tuesday. And yet, even after Judon appeared frustrated on Monday during animated conversations with some of the top decision-makers in the football operation at One Patriot Place, both parties maintain they hope to reach some common ground.
The question now is this: How do the Patriots proceed from here?
Those who know Eliot Wolf believe he won’t allow Monday’s on-field, in-public conversations to push him to make a rash decision on his star pass-rusher.
Judon will be 32 this season, coming off a biceps injury that limited him to four games last year. He felt late in the 2023 season that he might’ve been able to return, but he was never activated after suffering the injury in Week 4 in Dallas. He has 32 sacks in 38 games since arriving to New England in 2021.
That level of production would suggest Judon could be making somewhere in the range of nearly $20 million per season as a top-15 player at one of the most valuable positions in the sport.
The Patriots, however, haven’t appeared to be willing to go to those lengths in the short term.
Would they…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/training-camp-stock-watch-pats-221236785.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-07-30 22:12:36
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
