Matt Judon was a guest on Good Morning Football Wednesday morning and had some interesting things to say.
Judon talked about the mindset of a free agent joining a new team, Mac Jones, what he thinks the Pats should do with the No. 3 pick and he even named names when it comes to free agent targets he’d like to see the team go after. Judon also touched on Jerod Mayo taking over.
Here’s everything that stood out from the always entertaining No 9:
On the mindset of a free agent joining a new team
“You gotta pee on the rug. You gotta see what you can get away with. You’ve got to see what you can get away with first. Listen to the littler older people in the household before you go start barking at the head. I think you just go in there and try to figure out what you can do and what you can’t do. How things are ran, kind of the pecking order, the hierarchy of the household and then you just kind of do your thing. Bark and be cute and make plays.”
On his recovery from a torn bicep
“The comeback is going good. You know, me and my trainers Nick and Dan in Dallas, we’ve just been working hard to get back all the strength and flexibility and we’re there now. It’s been a long time. So, I’m doing really good…I was trying to come back (last year), but I didn’t get to come back, so I’ve got a lot in store next year.”
On his reaction when he found out Belichick was leaving
“Belichick was a great coach. I looked up to him. I think he’s one of the best to ever do it at the clip that he did it. The high level IQ that he had, it was amazing to learn from him. But, I think just with him leaving, it’s just new energy and new life in the building. You know, sometimes it’s just time and I think it was just one of those times. I think with the hiring of Mayo and bringing in somebody that’s been actually there for those years that kind of understand the player perspective and coaching, and also how Coach Belichick actually ran the system…I think bringing somebody in like that instead of somebody that’s outside that didn’t know at all kind of helped us. It kind of helped us because I think Mayo seen it going one way and he kind of tried to get it to go a different way. So, right there, we’ve got new life. We’ve got new expectations and right now, we’re all getting healthy and all getting back right. But, I think when we start we all going to try and kind of run through a wall for Mayo just because he always had our back throughout everything that we go through. We always would go kind of talk to him and he would understand and he’d be like ‘alright, I’ll talk. I’ll have this kind of talk or that kind of talk…’ and he would come to us and also just talk to us.”
On Mayo’s introductory press conference having a different vibe immediately and if the team has felt it
“Yeah, but that’s who Mayo is. He lets his personality shine. He lets who he is be up front. I think Coach Belichick was like that too, but he was behind closed doors because he didn’t want you to portray him in a certain way. Mayo is like ‘this is who I am, this is who I’ve always been. I’ve been in the media before. I’ve had highs and lows in the game of football before. You can all talk to me. I’ve been in the media, I’ve had to do the personnel conversations that all the coaches do,’ that’s how he always was. He’s always said ‘I’m going to speak my mind. I’m going to say what I need to say and that’s going to be it.’ That’s who he is. He’s going to laugh with you and joke with you, but he’s also going to discipline you too. Don’t think he’s a soft guy. Like, he was Top 10 for a reason. he’s not soft. He’s also a leader of men, but he just does it in a different way…there’s just a new vibe.”
On Belichick not getting another job
“I think he has done it a certain way for so long, I think it’s just hard to come to terms. I think people had to move fast. it’s not like you can place a franchise tag on a coach. It’s like, ‘ok, we’ve got to get this done now’ because you’ve got to start evaluating. You’ve got to put together coaches. You’ve got to start doing this and…if you can’t get that done kind of fast, the kind of coaching carousel, you just move on to the next one.”
On if he’d advocate for hiring Belichick if he was on another team
“I would. I would. I would say ‘hire that guy, he’s going to be great for the organization and he’s going to be great for the team.’ I would also have to tell them about the downfalls. Like, it might not be too many smiles you get out to do …it might not be too many laughs and jokes you got to get out with the media and stuff. The press like, you’re going to have some pushback on that…but, as a hire as a head coach, like, it’s hard to get better as a head coach.”
On what the team should do at No. 3 in the draft
“I think we gotta see what we do in free agency. There’s a couple quarterbacks out there that we know are gonna be on the market. But, if we don’t, then I do think we go quarterback. I do think you go quarterback or just best available guy. So, if you don’t go quarterback, then I think it might be Marvin Harrison Jr. He’s very dynamic, rangy, can stretch the field, hands are amazing. If he’s anything like his dad, you’re a great player.”
On if the team has communicated anything to players about Mac Jones’ future
“Nah. I think they keeping that between the front office and coaching staff. Like I said, I’ve been out since Week 4…but, as we all know, when Mac was comfortable and he had a good system, he produced and he put up numbers…we know he can do it. We know he can do it, he just has to find his confidence, his stride and get a rhythm under him. It’s difficult. It’s going to be his fourth OC.”
Does he believe Jones is ‘broken?’
“Nah. I think once you catch your stride and your rhythm…that’s what we were talking about with Baker (mayfield). Now we’re talking about him being one of the first people off the (free agency) board. First or second quarterbacks off the board.”
On if he has Mac Jones’ number
“I’ve never gotten it. I just hit Mac up on Instagram. He responds.”
On how he’d feel as a team leader if the team stuck with Mac Jones
“If you can trade back and get more picks and just kind of stockpile picks like that and build some more leverage and some more weapons to give Mac if you think he’s the guy, or if you go get a different guy, I feel like that’s the right thing to do.”
On why the idea of starting fresh at the QB position isn’t necessarily ideal to guys in the locker room
“That’s up to them. If they want to start fresh and clean house…but, I feel like it’s just…for the guys that we have there it’s unfair. Like, every year is bouncing around. We went from Josh (McDaniels) to Matty P to BB this year and then we had another guy this year, it’s unfair. Give him two years to mature in an offense and to find those same reads. Then again, I don’t know if it was the same offense or different personnel calling it. So…”
His pitch to free agents
“First of all, I want to let you all know we have a dynamic sports group in Massachusetts. Not just not New England…Gordon Ramsey only has four or five restaurants around the United States, one is in Boston. So, you know there’s great food in Boston. We’ve got a young Jason Tatum. We got the Bruins, they’re doing well. We have a soccer team and they’re going to play some World Cup in Foxborough. In two years, you can go watch the World Cup…”
On Kyle Dugger
“We need to sign Kyle Dugger. Kyle, I love you. You’ve become a leader in the secondary. We just lost a bald guy (Devin McCourty) we don’t need to lose another safety. So, we want Kyle to stay with the team, be a leader.”
On other free agents he wants the team to sign
“We want some wide receivers. Gabe Davis, you don’t have to leave the division, you just have to leave New York. Come over with the lower taxes, Come to the Patriots. Then, staying with the wide receiver group: Calvin Ridley. Come on over to the red, white and blue. We have a spot for you. Nobody wears No. 0. It’s all yours. You got it, I think you wear like a size 9 cleat, we got it. Whatever you need, we got. Every catch you need a new pair of shoes? We got you. A new pair of gloves? We got you. And then…we have a great running back and we just need another one. So, I’m saying Josh Jacobs, come on out of Nevada, they haven’t treated you well. You won a rushing title and nobody even talks about it. You do that in New England, No. 1 selling jersey. I’m just saying, I think you and Mondre would be a great 1-2 punch. It’s a 1A, 1B type thing…ya’ll would never get tired so ya’ll be running crazy. Basically, if we don’t know who we gonna have at quarterback, we definitely need good running backs.”