NFL Training Camp 2024: Star Player Absences and Early Injuries Dominate Latest News

Despite unhappiness over his contract, veteran edge-rusher Matthew Judon insisted in June that he had no intention of “holding in” for a second consecutive season.

“Right now, I’m just going to get ready to play,” Judon said on The Rich Shertenlieb Show. “You kind of keep throwing tantrums, tantrums, tantrums — and then you don’t come out there and do what you’re supposed to do — it kind of gets old real fast. I ain’t really trying to do that. I’m just trying to come out here and play football, get ready for this upcoming season, and put our defense and ourselves in a position to where we can win the most games, or to be the most effective. I ain’t worried about holding out, sitting out, or sitting in, kind of protesting. I’m just going to come out here and play ball, because last year, that stuff was trash. I ain’t really like that. I’m a football player. I don’t really want to get into the agency side. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to come out here and play some football.”

Apparently, Judon had a change of heart. The 31-year-old, who played in just four games a year ago before tearing his bicep, was at the Patriots’ first padded practice on Monday. But there were no pads—or practicing.

What there was, per Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston, were “animated” conversations, first with rookie head coach Jerod Mayo and then executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and director of player personnel Matt Groh. After the second conversation, Judon left the practice field and did not return.