On any one of Bill Belichick’s Patriots teams, the more you can do as a player, the more opportunities you’ll get along the way. This past offseason, in an effort to improve a defense that fell from first in Football Outsiders’ Defensive DVOA in 2019 to 26th in 2020, the Pats signed former Ravens linebacker Matthew Judon to a four-year, $56 million contract this past offseason. New England spent most of its cap dollars on offense in free agency, but the Judon signing was sneaky-good.
Last season in Baltimore’s blitz-happy defense, Judon was both an edge defender and an off-ball spinner at times, with 547 snaps on the defensive line, 73 in the box, eight in the slot, and four at outside cornerback. The 2016 fifth-round pick out of Grand Valley State totaled seven sacks and 46 total pressures, and he allowed seven catches on eight targets for 80 yards in coverage.
Does this sound like a Belichick guy? Sure does.
“I stay confident just from where I come from and what I’ve been through and the preparation that I know I take every day and every game,” Judon said in July about his transition from Wink Martindale’s defense to Belichick’s. “I have no choice but to be confident in myself. And I think when you play confident and have confidence in yourself, it shows on the field. And it shows in your play. And you can go out there and make those plays.
“And I think [Bill Belichick] is arguably the greatest coach to ever coach any sport. And that’s what we have. And so, with him leading a group of hungry, willing men, it’s nothing but up from last year. So, we gonna put it together in a week (when training camp starts) … and then we gonna see where the chips lay.”
In New England’s 22-13 preseason win over the Washington Football Team, Judon did everything in his power to make sure the chips were laid all over Washington’s offense. And there was one three-play sequence in particular that showed, in explicit detail, just how well Judon’s versatility fits in what the Patriots prefer to do defensively.
Our sequence starts with 12:40 left in the first quarter, and Washington with third-and-2 at the New England 42-yard line. Running back Peyton Barber is trying to hit it for the first down, but Judon (No. 9, off the right defensive edge) is having none of it.
On the second play — the first of Washington’s second drive — Judon starts in on Fitzpatrick, but then drops back into coverage, and prevents Fitzpatrick from hitting running back Antonio Gibson on the leak, reading the play perfectly.
Then, to finish things off, he beats Washington left tackle Charles Leno to pressure Fitzpatrick on an incomplete pass to Terry McLaurin, aided defensively by J.C. Jackson and his usual top-notch coverage.
Judon got a little dinged up later in the first quarter and returned to the field after going into the locker room, so he played just 12 snaps before the Pats shut him down. To be sure, Judon had already displayed everything he can do — and why he’ll be so valuable to a defense looking for a big bounceback.