Patriots veteran discusses 'tanking' talk after Matthew Judon trade

Some members of the NFL community understandably viewed the New England Patriots trading star pass-rusher Matthew Judon to the Atlanta Falcons for a 2025 third-round draft pick as the latest sign that New England is punting on the upcoming season and "tanking" with the future in mind. 

Veteran Patriots defensive lineman Davon Godchaux strongly disagrees with such assessments. 

"I don’t believe that at all," Godchaux recently told Karen Guregian of MassLive. "I definitely don’t get the vibe that we're tanking. Of course, we’re going to miss our brother Judon. But we’ve worked too hard for that...I definitely don’t get that vibe at all. It’s just outside people talking. It’s outside noise." 

The Patriots missed the playoffs three times across the past four seasons before team owner Robert Kraft parted ways with legendary head coach Bill Belichick in January. Kraft seemingly has embraced what repeatedly has been referred to this summer as a "multi-year rebuild," so the club trading Judon instead of paying the 32-year-old made plenty of sense considering where the organization is. 

However, ESPN's Bill Barnwell noted for a piece published Monday that the Patriots were responsible for what was, statistically speaking, arguably the league's best defense from Week 10 through Week 18 of last season. 

"They allowed 1.3 points per drive and minus-0.12 expected points added (EPA) per play, both of which were tops in the NFL," Barnwell said of the 2023 Patriots. 

Such data gives Godchaux hope that New England won't be a pushover this fall. 

"We still have a really good defense," Godchaux insisted. "We’re still going to be a top-10 defense, hopefully top-five. I believe in the guys here. Of course, we’re going to miss Judon. We’re going to miss [defensive tackle Christian Barmore], but at the end of the day, the next guy has to step up. It’s an opportunity for them." 

Barmore is out of action indefinitely due to blood clots.

Credit Godchaux for his optimism, but Chad Graff of The Athletic mentioned recently how New England's offense is "in trouble" because of a "brutal combination of a bad offensive line and bad wide receivers" regardless of if first-year head coach Jerod Mayo starts veteran Jacoby Brissett or rookie Drake Maye at quarterback. Maye becoming a revelation sooner rather than later could accelerate the franchise's rebuild, but it's unclear when he'll leapfrog Brissett on the depth chart. 

As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the 2024 Patriots at +160 betting odds to win over 5.5 games. Perhaps Godchaux and others inside the New England locker room can use such forecasts as bulletin board material heading into the team's regular-season opener at the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 8.