UPDATE, 14:00: Now it’s official, Judon is going to be a Patriot. The deal was finalized, Rapoport tweets. It’s a four-year pact, $ 56 million with $ 32 million guaranteed in the first two years, a source told Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network (Twitter Link)
1:36 pm: The Patriots’ free agent spending spree may have just begun. New England has already agreed to the terms of big deals with narrow tip Jonnu Smith and defensive attack Davon Godchaux on Monday, and they have a new big-name player firmly in view.
The Patriots are making a “big effort” to sign the Ravens pass-rusher Matt Judon, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Pats feel they are “close” to signing with Judon, a source told ESPN.com Josina Anderson (Twitter Link) Everything we heard recently in this off-season indicated that Baltimore would probably let Judon go. The Ravens franchise marked him in the last cycle, but it would have been prohibitively expensive to do it a second time and they never came to a long-term deal.
A choice for the fifth round of Grand Valley State in 2016, Judon broke out in 2017 and continues to improve. He has been a Pro Bowler in each of the past two seasons, with six sacks in 14 games in 2020 and 9.5 sacks the previous year.
With Godchaux and now potentially Judon in the fold, the Patriots’ defensive front will be much more imposing in 2021. The Pats had only 24 sacks as a team in 2020, the sixth lowest number in the league.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.