Judon going to ‘work for’ new deal with Falcons

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Matthew Judon, the newly acquired Atlanta Falcons star pass rusher, will be playing without a contract for next season, at least for the time being.

By choice, according to him.

In his first news conference Monday, the edge rusher said he does not believe he has earned an extension yet with his new team. The Falcons traded a third-round draft pick to the New England Patriots for Judon last week. Judon had held out early in training camp and fell out with the Patriots on a number of issues, including his base salary in 2024 — just $6.5 million — and not having a signed contract for 2025.

“The Atlanta Falcons know nothing about me as a football player and about me as a man,” Judon said. “They really know my previous résumé. So, I can’t really demand or ask for anything that. I haven’t worked for. And that’s where I’ve been my whole life. So, I’m [going to] work for it, man.”

Judon is a four-time Pro Bowl selection who had a career-high 15.5 sacks in 2022 following a 12.5-sack season in 2021. He missed most of last season with a torn biceps. The Falcons have had 23 fewer sacks then any team in the league for the past five seasons and have not had a double-digit sack leader since Vic Beasley in 2016.

Judon did individual drills and had a handful of reps with the first-team defense in practice Monday, his first with Atlanta. Judon said he was just happy to be with the Falcons and in Georgia. He showed up to the news conference after practice wearing a University of Georgia shirt, and his first words were, “Go Dawgs.”

“Mike Vick played here,” Judon said. “It’s a lot of history here. The coaches and the schemes and the players that y’all have around here, it’s building around here.”

When asked about reports that the Patriots gave him the choice between the Falcons and Chicago Bears, Judon said, “Don’t believe everything you read or everything you see.”

Judon, 32, and New England couldn’t come to an agreement on money, and on July 29, Judon openly expressed his frustration at the Patriots’ first full-pads practice of training camp, arriving on the field without his pads and watching teammates work while he sat on a flipped-over trash barrel. He had what appeared to be an animated conversation with first-year coach Jerod Mayo before walking off the field and later returned to speak with executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and director of player personnel Matt Groh.

Judon missed two Patriots practices before returning to the team.

“Teams had been calling to check in,” Wolf told reporters Sunday. “[Judon] had voiced a little bit of displeasure with his contract at different times. So, whenever that happens, teams always check in on players. So, it’s just kind of something that came to fruition there at the end.”

Right now, Judon said he’s just focused on learning the playbook with his new team. He wasn’t aware of many of the plays the Falcons were running Monday and fellow edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie could be seen talking to him on the sidelines about what Atlanta was doing.

“I’m not gonna set a goal, but I’m go out there and I’m just gonna play with reckless abandon,” Judon said. “And so, that’s the mission. Like the mission is go in, destroy everything out there. But I don’t have no goals.”

ESPN’s Mike Reiss contributed to this report.