Patriots
“We’re both in a good place. I think the team is in a good place and we’re pushing forward.”
Matthew Judon was at Patriots practice in full pads for the second day in a row on Saturday.
Coach Jerod Mayo took some time during his pre-practice press conference to add clarification to Judon’s participation level.
“Judon had everything on and he participated in every single drill,” Mayo said. “Team drills, individual drills, he did everything he had to do. Sometimes when they put pants on, you can’t really tell. But I think the shoulder pads kind of give it away. No, we don’t do uppers. Either we’re full pads or we’re shells.”
Judon missed a pair of practices earlier in the week and has been outspoken about his dissatisfaction with his current contract.
He has yet to sign a new deal with the team, but continues to participate in padded practices which generally carry a higher injury risk than the non-contact practices he had participated in earlier in the camp.
A reporter asked Mayo if he had some kind of agreement with Judon about continuing to practice in pads, noting that he did not participate in padded practices last year while in contract negotiations.
“I expect all of our players to, if the dress is full pads, to come out here in full pads,” Mayo said. “I expect all of our players to, if the dress is shells, then to be out here in shells. Like I said, we’re moving past the Judon thing. We’re both in a good place. I think the team is in a good place and we’re pushing forward.”
Between Judon’s absences, the news of Christian Barmore’s blood clot diagnosis, and taking on the challenges of his first training camp as head coach, Mayo had an eventful week this week.
He said it was good for him to go through these things early on.
“These things happen on every single team,” Mayo said. “And it’s good to get that experience dealing with frustrations, contract negotiations, frustrations on playing time, and things like that.”
“It’s part of the job. Like my mom said, “You want to be a head coach, huh?” I do,” Mayo continued. “But once again, look, it’s a learning experience for me and I will continue to evolve and just try to be a better coach every day, just how I expect our players to be better players every day.”
Sign up for Patriots updates🏈
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during football season.