On this episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast, Greg and Nick are back together to tackle a variety of topics, including the trade demand of Brandon Aiyuk and whether the Patriots should be interested, and some change to the Patriots front office. Plus, Matthew Judon responds to Greg's report on his contract. All that, and much more!
0:00 - Greg Bedard Patriots podcast
1:13 - Mike's reports
5:35 - Compensation concerns
7:26 - Free agency dynamics
9:36 - Charges dropped against Kayson Boutte
14:37 - Game Time App
16:24 - Patriots Front Office Updates
19:28 - Matt Groh Director of Player Personnel
21:35 - Totem pole structure
25:10 - Discussing Matthew Judon and his response to Greg's report
29:23 - Responding to contract rumors
31:19 - Expectations for Judon
33:52 - Future of Judon's contract
35:26 - Situation with Godchaux
************************************************
Patriots Content Brought to you by....
Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.
0:00 - Greg Bedard Patriots podcast
1:13 - Mike's reports
5:35 - Compensation concerns
7:26 - Free agency dynamics
9:36 - Charges dropped against Kayson Boutte
14:37 - Game Time App
16:24 - Patriots Front Office Updates
19:28 - Matt Groh Director of Player Personnel
21:35 - Totem pole structure
25:10 - Discussing Matthew Judon and his response to Greg's report
29:23 - Responding to contract rumors
31:19 - Expectations for Judon
33:52 - Future of Judon's contract
35:26 - Situation with Godchaux
************************************************
Patriots Content Brought to you by....
Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.
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SportsTranscript
00:00This is the Gregg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles.
00:09He's Gregg.
00:10I'm Nick.
00:11It's a Gregg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles.
00:13This episode brought to you by our friends at Game Time.
00:16Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with Game Time.
00:19Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.
00:25Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed.
00:28Well, Gregg, we were going to start with some Patriots news about their front office.
00:33We will get to that.
00:35But then some NFL news broke just before we started to record this podcast.
00:40It's from the NFL Network's Mike Garofalo.
00:42He reports that Brandon Ayuk has officially requested a trade from the San Francisco 49ers.
00:48I found it interesting that within his tweet, Gregg, Mike also mentioned that San Francisco
00:56is unwilling to negotiate.
00:57So we know where this story is coming from and we know that Ayuk is not happy.
01:04And I would just have to imagine it's the Justin Jefferson contract situation.
01:09So just your initial thoughts on Ayuk officially requesting a trade.
01:14My initial reaction is good for him.
01:20He really has no rights here.
01:27I understand his sentiment.
01:28He's trying to play hardball.
01:29He's trying to get the 49ers to the negotiating table.
01:35This is not the first time that we have seen the 49ers pushed in negotiations.
01:42I think that Ayuk and his representatives have certainly learned from the past.
01:48Deebo went through this.
01:51Joey Bosa went through this.
01:55We've seen it in the past, even with the Patriots, where we talked about guys getting
01:59their money.
02:00They had to basically put one foot out the door before Belichick, like the Devin McCourty's,
02:05the Vince Wilfork's, like those guys that you understand the lay of the land on what
02:12you have to do to get things done.
02:16As specific to Brandon Ayuk, from what I understand from over the last few months talking to people
02:23around the 49ers, they have zero intention of trading him, that he is the centerpiece
02:31of their offense.
02:33We've talked about this before.
02:34If they're going to trade anybody, it is going to be Deebo Samuel because I think they're
02:38a little bit sick of his unavailability.
02:42He's in.
02:43He's out.
02:44Ayuk, in his position on the outside of the 49ers offense, is a little bit more important
02:52than Deebo.
02:53Not to say that Deebo's not a very good talent, an exceptional talent, but I just think in
03:00relation to the Patriots, if people are now thinking that Brandon Ayuk is available and
03:07that they can trade for him, I'm not going to totally rule it out.
03:13If the Patriots want to offer the moon, and that includes compensation and a new contract,
03:19it's not just one or the other, it's both at this point, then I think it's a little
03:24bit of a pipe dream.
03:25I think the bigger reality, and if you're the Patriots, you're happy about this, is
03:31if the 49ers continue to play hardball and Ayuk does not get his contract, and we'll
03:35see what ends up happening, then he is almost definitely not going to re-sign with the 49ers
03:41and he is available in free agency next year when possibly you have Drake May, or hoping,
03:49not possibly, probably have Drake May ready to go.
03:54The offense has a year under its belt with Alex Van Pelt, and now you can bring in the
03:59centerpiece number one wide receiver when you're ready to go.
04:04A few things.
04:06Why would they trade Ayuk?
04:08I tend to agree with you, Greg.
04:10I find it very unlikely.
04:11I was out in Sacramento.
04:13I posted, you know, whoa, hashtag Patriots, because I do think the Patriots, they want
04:18a wide receiver one.
04:19They had discussions with San Francisco about Ayuk, so I don't think it's crazy to believe
04:24that Elliott Wolfe's making a phone call, but from San Francisco's side, I was out in
04:28Sacramento when they went through the Debo Samuel situation, and it got very, you know,
04:33sticky with Debo, and they weren't getting along, and he was out there publicly pushing
04:38for more money, et cetera, et cetera.
04:40He finally got his deal, but obviously no trade was made.
04:43The only thing I would say is if it becomes too big of a distraction, like how hard is
04:48Ayuk willing to push here?
04:50Is he willing to go public?
04:52Is he, you know, will this guy go on ESPN next week and start talking about San Francisco?
04:56Like how far is he willing to go?
04:59And if he wants to be a massive distraction, if you're the 49ers, you were just in the
05:03Super Bowl last year, so it's a delicate balance of you were there because his talent,
05:09his talent helped you get there, but do you want a malcontent in that locker room that
05:14can upset the culture a little bit and cause issues for somebody like Brock Purdy?
05:19I mean, if Ayuk goes out there and he just doesn't play hard in the first couple of weeks
05:23of the season, he's screwing the whole team over.
05:25So you have to know his intent here, and how far is he willing to push it?
05:30The other thing I would say is, you know, the compensation for Ayuk, very difficult
05:36for the Patriots, Greg, right?
05:37Because San Francisco is going to want a first round pick.
05:41If you're New England, now you've got to try to figure out, okay, if we traded for Ayuk,
05:45how much better does he really make us this season?
05:49And where does that first round pick in 2025 end up?
05:52Because I don't think many people would want to deal a top, say, seven pick for Brennan
05:57Ayuk.
05:58So it's also the very difficult math that you have to do.
06:02All right, we trade that pick.
06:04Does he make us an 8-win team, 9-win team, 10-win team?
06:07Does he get us closer to the playoffs?
06:09Does he drop our first round pick from top, you know, seven to maybe middle of the first
06:14round?
06:15If it's middle of the first round, you're more likely to entertain that.
06:19Yeah, I am definitely against.
06:24One of the last things I want to do is trade the Patriots' first round pick for where they
06:27are and where that might be.
06:29Like that's how you run into these dumbass teams, like just compounding their mistakes.
06:34Like the Carolina Panthers and their deal up for Bryce Young, and that turns into a
06:42top five pick the next year.
06:44So not only are you giving up a first round pick that could be a top 10 pick, but you're
06:49then also paying through the nose for a wide receiver.
06:52I'd much rather just get through this year and just pay the contract because they're
06:57going to have plenty of cap space.
07:00They spent a lot of cash this year, but their cap space is down.
07:03And so that's what I'm more on board with.
07:07I did, Nick, I did just want to make sure we mentioned at the top our good friends over
07:11at GameTime.
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07:27Free agency is also interesting.
07:28We brought this up a couple more points on the IU thing.
07:32Of course, T Higgins, he's not going to be a bangle next year either.
07:36So if there's a scenario here where you have both T Higgins and Brennan IU in a very unusual
07:42situation because nowadays wide receiver ones don't usually walk into free agency.
07:47If you're the Patriots, this might set up for you in 2025 to have two swings.
07:52You might be able to take a swing at T and then take a swing at IU or vice versa, where
07:56you take a swing at IU and IU says no, and you quickly pivot to T and you pay T and you
08:03walk out with at least somebody who you would, you know, regard in this wide receiver room
08:07specifically as a true number one with T Higgins.
08:10I think he's more 1B, 2A, IU no doubt is a 1A.
08:13Last question I have for you about this.
08:16Could this possibly make Debo Samuel more tradable?
08:20Are the 49ers going to be a little bit more desperate to get rid of Debo to create some
08:24more space there to get IU to shut up and get him into camp?
08:29Yeah, I do.
08:30I would just if I'm the Patriots and where they are in their system and sort of the guys
08:35that they have, I'm less inclined to go for Debo.
08:39I'm looking for, you know, a dynamic boundary weapon.
08:44They don't really have that.
08:47You know, they have plenty of guys, not quite Debo, nobody's really Debo because he's really
08:52half running back, half wide receiver.
08:55Patriots don't really have that.
08:56But they have, you know, Jalen Polk can play inside, Kendrick Bourne, Pop Douglas.
09:02Like, you know, to me, they're all right there.
09:07You really want the Brandon Aiyuk, the T Higgins of the world.
09:10Like that's something that you don't have, that's hard to get, especially if the Patriots
09:15get to a point next year in the draft with their first round pick, say it's top 10, and
09:19they go for a left tackle.
09:21And, you know, you go for the left tackle, but sign the boundary wide receiver and free
09:26agency. And now now the Patriots are cooking with gas a little bit.
09:31Let's stick with wide receiver.
09:32We found out this morning some breaking news for the Patriots wide receiver room.
09:36Adam Schefter reported this morning that charges have been dropped against K.
09:40Sean Booty. The underage gambling and the computer fraud charges have been dropped by
09:46the state of Louisiana.
09:48No explanation as to why these charges were dropped, the story just says that they were
09:52dropped. So kind of interested in as to why they were dropped.
09:56But here we are, Greg, your reaction to Booty getting these charges dropped.
10:02So, yeah, we don't know really the reasoning, as I said, sort of last week when I broke
10:08down my offensive 53, you know, going through it, K.
10:12Sean Booty's name was there and I'm like, what the heck's going on with this court case?
10:17And so I reached out to Louisiana State Police, the I want to say it's East Baton Rouge
10:25District Court to find out what's going on, doing the online searches, too.
10:30But, you know, basically everybody that I talked to said nothing had been done since his
10:35January arraignment, which was odd to me.
10:39So, yeah, that this is the ultimate result.
10:43And I put Booty on my 53 man roster because of the the status of the case and that the
10:50NFL doesn't really do anything until something's adjudicated.
10:54And by the way, now that the charges are dropped, that doesn't necessarily mean that he's
11:00out of the woods with the NFL.
11:02Now, a lot of these allegations happened when he was a he was an undergrad or underage at
11:09LSU. Some of it happened with the Patriots.
11:12And we know that the the NFL has been a little bit horny to persecute some of these guys
11:19with with gambling.
11:21And so now that at least there's some sort of end that the charges were dropped, if the
11:26NFL was going to step in and, say, suspend him for a game or two, it would happen now
11:33probably, you know, in the run up to the at some point in the run up to the season.
11:38Yeah, a few things just to make sure we put a finer point on the NFL side of this, as
11:45you said, Greg, they can still punish you, they can still punish booty, you know, no
11:51matter what happens with these charges, charges being dropped, they could still go after
11:54him. There's a few things that they have to answer as far as the gambling policy.
11:58We know that according to Mike Reese's story and according to some documents, booty was
12:04still gambling into like the first week of May.
12:08So he was still gambling after the NFL draft in 2023 when he was drafted by the Patriots.
12:14So he was still actively gambling as an NFL player.
12:19The question is, did he gamble on the NFL in any way?
12:23We know that he gambled on LSU games.
12:25We know that he gambled on other college football games.
12:28Did he, let's say, bet an NFL future?
12:32You know, did he put a bet in in May?
12:34For an NFL future bet or something like that, we don't know that that has not been
12:40reported. The other part of this is even if he was betting on other sports, he is not
12:46able allowed to do that in an NFL facility slash venue.
12:52So the other question is, when he was betting that first week of May, did he do
12:58something dunce like put a bet in while he's hanging around the facility that first
13:05week or so? And if he did put a bet in at the facility or the venue, and I would guess
13:10that there's some wiggle room with the venue word.
13:13If he did put a bet in while he was on NFL territory, pretty much, let's just put it
13:19that way, or Patriots territory, then he's going to get in trouble for it.
13:23So there are some details that we still need to figure out.
13:26And I'm sure the NFL is going to investigate if they haven't already investigated and the
13:31Patriots will go from there.
13:32But I think like you, he's got a shot to be in the wide receiver room this year.
13:37He played well at minicamp and Kendrick Bourne situation.
13:43If he ends up on the PUP, I think it's.
13:46Even more likely that Booty can can find a spot on the team if Bourne doesn't end up on
13:51the PUP, then it's how many receivers will the Patriots keep?
13:55Will they keep five?
13:56Will they keep six?
13:57What will they do at that position if they keep six?
14:00He's got a better shot if they keep five and Bourne's playing.
14:04That's difficult math for him.
14:07Yeah, for sure.
14:08I mean, I think that I think that Booty, what we saw in the offseason, he's definitely in
14:14the mix and now he's just got to be on the field consistently and produce this summer
14:19and continue building off what he did last year.
14:23And I think he has a pretty good shot.
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16:22Let's move towards the front office, Greg.
16:25The Patriots finally announced.
16:26It's funny. I was wondering about this just the other day if we would get some information
16:31about the front office because it's been very, very quiet.
16:34Well, the Pats have announced front office titles.
16:36They've announced additions.
16:39Let's start with the biggest one.
16:41I don't know if you want to throw the the other scouting information, the pro scout, the
16:44area scout, the scouting assistant.
16:46If you want to talk about those, we can talk about those later.
16:48But let's start with Patrick Stewart named director of pro personnel.
16:53He takes over Steve Cargile, who went down to Houston with buddy Nick Casario.
16:58So I know you've you've stated that you're a fan of Patrick Stewart.
17:01Greg, you like him.
17:02You like his work.
17:03Seems like a pretty good guy, you know, good football guy.
17:06But your thoughts on him taking the position of director of pro personnel?
17:10Yeah, I think that it was a really good move by Elliot Wolfe.
17:14Patrick Stewart's one of these guys.
17:16He's he's been around.
17:17Not only did he come up with the Patriots, but he worked with the Eagles.
17:22He worked with the Panthers.
17:25He was he was pretty high up with the Panthers before they made all their changes.
17:29And they came back and sort of, you know, helped out the front office
17:33the past couple of years, I think.
17:35But he you know, this is similar to Nick.
17:38I don't know if you heard my podcast last week when I was talking about
17:43about hard knocks and watching the Giants and sort of their front office.
17:48I was underwhelmed with their front office, quite frankly.
17:51They seemed really young and inexperienced
17:55and didn't really know the lay of the land as far as market
17:59for Saquon Barkley and who was going to come or, you know, trade partner.
18:02You know, on a bunch of different levels, I was underwhelmed with the Giants.
18:06But I I am equally from what I know, and I know a lot of these guys,
18:10whether it's Elliott Wolfe or Alonzo Highsmith or Pat Stewart or Matt Groh.
18:16Well, you know, these guys these guys have been through it.
18:19You know, Pat Stewart in his role as director of pro personnel.
18:24To me, it's perfect because he has deep ties throughout the league.
18:28He has he has seen a lot of these guys.
18:31He has researched a lot of these guys.
18:34To me, it just further gives Elliott Wolfe,
18:37who has his own vast experience in the league.
18:40You know, you put them together with Alonzo Highsmith
18:43as Wolfe's right hand man, Pat Stewart as his pro personnel guy.
18:49That's a pretty, pretty experienced,
18:53well-known, well-respected trio at the top of the Patriots.
18:57And if I'm a Patriots fan, I feel good about where the front office
19:01is going forward here.
19:03Let's get to some other names.
19:05I know immediately when we bring up the front office and titles
19:08and additions and changes, everybody wants to know about Matt Groh.
19:12Is Matt Groh still there, Nick?
19:13What is Matt Groh doing? What's his title?
19:15Matt Groh's title, Greg, is officially director of player personnel.
19:19So Matt Groh has survived the transition.
19:22He is still part of this front office.
19:24And that title, as I just told you, is director of player personnel.
19:27Your thoughts?
19:28Yeah, which I'm pretty sure is his same title from last year.
19:31Now he got leapfrogged by Elliott Wolfe.
19:35But this is not a surprise after observing the team,
19:41whether it was at the Senior Bowl or the Combine
19:44or the offseason practices, like Matt Groh was very present.
19:50He's he's often engaged in conversations
19:53with other front office staff, including Elliott Wolfe.
19:57It seems like Wolfe used him as an asset.
20:00I don't think he would be here if he didn't.
20:03So, you know, people love to take shots at Matt Groh.
20:07He's sort of a
20:09another guy that can say, thanks, Bill, for,
20:13you know, making them
20:16a target, you know, along with, you know, guys like,
20:19you know, Bill O'Brien and Matt Patricia and Joe Judge.
20:23You know, I think in this role,
20:26Matt is valued, he gets to do his thing.
20:28And, you know, I assume he's going to he's more on the college side.
20:33That's what I've heard from talking to people behind the scenes,
20:36whether it's undrafted free agents or they're working the draft.
20:38I hear Matt Groh's name a lot.
20:40So it seems like Matt Groh and Cameron Williams,
20:43who's the director of college scouting, that those guys sort of work hand
20:47to hand, and then you have Alonzo Highsmith and Pat Stewart on the pro side,
20:53you know, really giving the Patriots a lot of talent,
20:56no matter what you think of Matt Groh, he's well respected in that building.
21:01Yeah, Alonzo has the senior personnel executive title,
21:04and, you know, we should always mention
21:07Matt Groh is not making the final call, folks.
21:10So, you know, no matter how you feel about him, the Patriots feel about him.
21:14It's not like he's making any final decisions.
21:16He he is doing the legwork.
21:18He's having conversations with everybody else in the room.
21:21But as Greg just mentioned, ultimately, we know Elliott Wolfe makes the call.
21:25He's going to lean on Highsmith and Patrick Stewart,
21:28and Patrick Stewart and Highsmith will get information from Cam Williams
21:32and Matt Groh.
21:33There's the pyramid.
21:34You know, there's the there's the structure, the totem pole, so to speak.
21:37And so it's not as if Matt Groh is going to make a decision.
21:42That's on Elliott Wolfe and a little bit lesser Highsmith and Stewart.
21:47Groh is going to be there, and I'm sure he's going to have his favorites.
21:51He's going to have guys that he doesn't like,
21:53but it's all going to be up to Elliott Wolfe at the end of the day.
21:56Another name, interestingly enough, Greg is Troy Brown.
21:59He is not on the list of twenty nine.
22:02Yes, I said twenty nine coaches and strength coaches.
22:07Yeah, that I don't even know if that really means anything, Nick.
22:14You know, we just know that he doesn't have a title.
22:17I would be surprised if Troy Brown's not still in the building like
22:21if I recall correctly and I'm just looking at.
22:27Is Slater's not on here,
22:29and we know that Slater has a role in the organization.
22:32I could see Slater and Troy Brown,
22:35you know, working hand to hand, maybe, you know, in player development,
22:39that sort of thing where they don't get listed.
22:43I would still be surprised if Troy Brown is not a part of things
22:48down there in some capacity.
22:50So ultimately, I guess we're going to have to see the first day of practice.
22:53A couple of Brennan Ayuk notes, I just want to pass along
22:56as we continue to record the show on Twitter, Adam Schefter.
23:00This is not necessarily breaking news, says that other teams have reached out,
23:04spoken to the 49ers.
23:05They've been told that the Niners have no intention of trading Ayuk.
23:09Also coming from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, says a source on Ayuk's contract
23:14impasse, quote, Ayuk wants to be traded or paid.
23:17San Francisco doesn't want to pay him or trade him, unquote.
23:23Ayuk saying pick a lane in San Francisco is like,
23:25yeah, we don't have to, Brennan.
23:27So welcome to the NFL. Get your shine box.
23:30Yeah, we we have all the power.
23:33So, oh, well.
23:35Oh, and by the way, if anybody cares about this, another note that I just.
23:41Retweeted Ingrid Andrus, who is now well known for the
23:46National Anthem at last night's home run derby,
23:49has officially come out with a statement and let everybody know that, yes,
23:52she was hammered last night.
23:53She was drunk and she is checking herself into a facility today
23:56to get the help that she needs.
23:58She apologizes to everybody.
24:00So people were wondering, was that a version of the song that she was thinking?
24:04Was she being a little too musical and creative?
24:07Was she on something? Was something wrong?
24:09According to her, she was drunk.
24:11So probably not a good idea to get drunk right before the National Anthem
24:16at a major sporting event.
24:18Other names, Patriots front office, just some scouts.
24:21Bob Cronenberg added as a pro scout.
24:24Casey, do you know how to pronounce this person's name?
24:27Is it Bologna?
24:30I do not go forward, Nick.
24:32All right, Casey Bologna area scout and AJ Richardson.
24:36So just some more names they're thrown in.
24:39But as we said, the big ones, Patrick Stewart gets a promotion.
24:42It's it's Elliott Wolf.
24:44Then you've got Stewart and Highsmith, and then you have below them.
24:47You've got grow and Cam Williams.
24:49Pretty good structure there.
24:51All right, let's move on before we bid adieu to everybody
24:54and talk about Matthew Judon and Devon Gottschall.
24:58I read your story.
25:00I think it was from today.
25:01If it wasn't, it was from last night.
25:02Sometimes I get confused because the retweets and all that.
25:05But I read your story on Judon and Gottschall.
25:07I'm going to talk about it tonight on 98 five.
25:09So I'm looking forward to that.
25:10But let's start with Judon first.
25:12Just his tweet, Greg, because I know that you said
25:15what you said on the podcast last week. And by the way.
25:20I am not happy with Greg because Greg has this to say about Matthew Judon
25:26and the podcast and Greg's face gets broadcast
25:30across all of New England, constantly on every show.
25:33And so he waits until I'm not here.
25:35I'm on vacation with the wife in Newport to drop the intel.
25:39And then he gets all the pub and his face is all over the place
25:42while while my ugly mug is nowhere to be seen. So sorry.
25:49I know you said what you said last week.
25:51Everybody by now knows what you said last week.
25:52But your reaction to the tweet from Judon over the weekend
25:57that came out on Saturday.
25:58Like, I didn't I don't know.
26:00I didn't think much of it at the time.
26:02Like, hadn't I said a version of that before?
26:06I could have sworn I did.
26:08Maybe I didn't.
26:09I think I do think a lot of this, Nick, and it seems like it happens
26:13with me like every year.
26:14It's probably because I'm only one of the only reporters who
26:19doesn't get a vacation and is working throughout the dead time.
26:22So it just seems like,
26:25you know, every year seems like I put something out there
26:28that because it's the dead time and, you know, these
26:32stupid Twitter accounts and Instagram accounts,
26:34they need to aggravate stuff to make sure they get their clicks
26:37so that they get paid.
26:39You know, that's how this works now.
26:41And so they take something that I said
26:45that I'm pretty sure I previously said and make a big deal out of it.
26:49And, you know, my reaction to Matthew's tweet.
26:53And first of all, I love Matthew Judon.
26:56I think he's a great player.
26:57I think he's entitled to ask for a lot more money.
27:01He's way underpaid, set to be way underpaid this season.
27:05And I think that he should be rewarded or he should be traded
27:09to a contender that where he's rewarded and gets to play
27:13in the playoffs.
27:15As far as his tweet,
27:18I think it was my reaction was, OK, that's a non denial denial.
27:24He he said, I didn't say that.
27:27I never reported that he said that every player,
27:31especially the smart ones, have plausible deniability
27:34because they have agents and other people who work on their behalf
27:37and handle this stuff.
27:38So the player could say, I never said that.
27:42I never said anything about my contract.
27:43But there's been a few contradictions with Matthew
27:47and his contract status this this summer.
27:50Like, you know, he went on WZLX and gave an interview.
27:54And, you know, he said a lot of all the right things about like,
27:58I don't want to go through what I did last summer.
28:00Which let's also remember that I reported he was holding in
28:05and he said he wasn't holding in, but he in fact was holding in.
28:09But he went on ZLX and he he was asked, how far apart are they?
28:13And he said, you know, we're pretty close.
28:16Well, if if there's nothing wrong with his contract,
28:19if he's content with his contract and to play out his contract,
28:23why do the Patriots and Judon have to be close?
28:25There's obviously a negotiation going on here and including
28:28there was another I think another media post where somebody said like
28:32the Patriots got to pay Matthew Judon, and he basically responded
28:36like, I don't think that's going to happen.
28:37So there's been some sort of discussion about his contract.
28:41But, you know, the bottom line is like if if Matthew was content
28:46with his contract was, you know, knew that some of the things
28:51that he said about coming off an injury and he's blessed
28:54just to be playing this game and and, you know, I understand all that.
28:58If my reporting was incorrect, then the tweet or the quote
29:02should have been like it should have been something along the lines of
29:07I have no issues with my contract.
29:09I am not expecting anything to be done about my contract.
29:13I look forward to playing out my contract and becoming a free agent next year.
29:18But he didn't say that.
29:19He just said, I didn't say I need a new contract.
29:23And so it sort of is what it is.
29:28Yeah, at first I read the tweet as maybe the Patriots live on the air,
29:32him saying them, and then I then when I got off the air,
29:34I thought about it over the weekend.
29:36I said, oh, he's he's definitely
29:38responding to Greg's report or, you know, what you had to say on the pod last week.
29:44And I don't know, man, it's just.
29:47I think all players are better off
29:50just not saying much of anything, and I know that his initial reaction
29:55is he wants to fight back or whatever he's doing,
29:57and he wants to push back on the report.
30:00But just do your business, just do your business.
30:04You don't have to be tweeting at people like he did earlier, which, you know,
30:07and then he tweeted the SpongeBob SquarePants GIF after tweeting
30:11at that person that he doesn't think it's going to happen.
30:16You said that you were not going to do what you did last year
30:18and you weren't going to you know, you didn't want to say much or whatever,
30:21but you keep sprinkling in some things out there.
30:24And again, I understand.
30:25I understand he's trying to defend his position and he wants to push back.
30:28But you also have to understand that when you do that,
30:31you're letting the story kind of continue and live and survive.
30:36And people are now going to look at everything that you said
30:38and question some things that you said prior.
30:41And you're probably just better off just letting business be business.
30:46Hopefully you get a deal that you want or you get dealt to a place
30:50that you want to be dealt.
30:51You could always say at a later time.
30:55You know, that's not what happened.
30:56This is what happened.
30:57You don't always have to respond.
30:59You don't always have to reply, even if you want to.
31:01And that's I think that's advice that we should all take, by the way,
31:05because all of us respond and reply all like you don't always have to hit,
31:08reply or send.
31:11Sometimes it's just better off to take a deep breath and walk away
31:14for a little while and let things just happen.
31:18With all of that said, Greg, do you expect you down at camp next week?
31:22Oh, yeah, I think he's definitely coming.
31:24And I think he said that he said, you know, or maybe that was before minicamp.
31:28And he's yeah, I think it was before minicamp.
31:30He said, like, I'm not going to get fined.
31:31Like he's going to be there.
31:33I mean, I can't tell you how much he's going to do.
31:38You know, we shall see.
31:40But I still think, you know, the bottom line is,
31:43you know, if the Patriots didn't do anything to Christian Barmore's contract,
31:48if they didn't give him the extension, then I still think there would have been
31:52bellyaching from Matthew Judon and Devon Godchow.
31:56But, you know, once they gave Christian Barmore off of really one year
32:01of production, twenty one million dollars in cash, I forget what the A.A.V. is.
32:08I do have it here.
32:10Let me just be accurate.
32:11So he's Christian Barmore got twenty one million dollars A.A.V.,
32:16including nineteen point five million cash in twenty twenty four.
32:20And Matthew Judon and that's off of one year of production, really.
32:25And Matthew Judon is set to make seven point five million dollars in cash this year.
32:29And Devon Godchow is set to make eight point three million dollars in cash this year.
32:34You know, they might have been a little disgruntled before,
32:37but now that when Barmore got his deal and I don't begrudge Barmore at all or the Patriots,
32:43a little rich, but you had to do something because you couldn't let him go through this
32:47year and get the free agency and then he's gone.
32:49But the Patriots have been through this too many times.
32:51So they're proactive and hopefully in time the deal looks better.
32:55It often does.
32:56But, you know, it went from a little grumbling to when they gave Barmore
33:01You know, that's when it sort of, you know, went to another level.
33:04And those guys are saying, if you guys are handing out money,
33:10we've done a few things for this franchise more than a year.
33:12So why don't you look at us?
33:15I've got one more question for Greg before I get to that question.
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33:48this upcoming season.
33:50My last question for you, Greg, is inevitably what do you think happens with Judon and Gotchow?
33:55I definitely think they do something with Judon.
33:57Now, I, you know, I think they'll give him a little bit of a bump and then incentives
34:02that could get him to where he really should be is somewhere around 14, 15 million dollars a year.
34:08So right now he's getting paid half of what he's really been paid each year over the last,
34:13like, four years going back to Baltimore.
34:17I think they'll do something and that's advantageous for two different ways, Nick.
34:22It's not only for the Patriots this year, which is good and you're hoping that, you know,
34:29the Patriots do play good football and they're 500 and, you know, in contention for a playoff
34:33spot, all that stuff.
34:34And they're going to need, they're likely going to need Matthew Judon to do that.
34:38But in an event that that doesn't happen, you know, and they do something to his contract
34:45and, you know, make him happier and he's productive and all this stuff,
34:48it makes him tradable at the trade deadline.
34:50If things don't work out for the Patriots and they're stuck on like three wins or four wins
34:54and Judon's going to fly the coop after the season, why not get rid of him now?
34:59And so by, you know, addressing his contract now, I think it makes things easier.
35:02Godchow, man, that's going to be tough.
35:07You know, they have him over the barrel.
35:10They don't have any depth at the position.
35:12You know, I don't really think right now there's too many people clamoring
35:16to trade for an interior run defender who wants more money.
35:22So I think that it's more likely that they, you know, probably give Godchow,
35:28maybe at least with both of these guys, more guaranteed money, pay their salaries up front,
35:35a lot of it, and then tack on some incentives that can get them to another level if the team
35:40and they do well.
35:43That'll do it.
35:43He's Greg.
35:44I'm Nick.
35:45Back later this week.
35:46Everybody be well.