Giardi: Answer forthcoming on Matthew Judon?

FOXBOROUGH - As Bill Belichick was holding his morning press briefing Friday, Matthew Judon came up the steps that lead to the practice field and immediately got a nice greeting from the crowd.

After jogging across one of the fields, he launched his gear into a pile and then went about interacting with the fans, as is his custom.

In his previous two training camps, this fits Judon’s routine to a tee. But this year, there’s been something missing: actual participation in the football-portion of practice. As he’s not on the PUP, it has raised some - including yours truly - to wonder if Judon is conducting a hold-in 

When asked today what was up, Belichick dusted off a tried and true response.

“We have different players that are in different stages of participation," he said.

Well then Bill, is Judon hurt? It would have to be an upper-body injury considering how much running the soon-to-be 31-year-old edge rusher has done on his own and in conditioning drills dating back to mandatory mini-camp.

“We have different players that are at different stages of participation,” responded Belichick again, before a long pause, adding, “Those injury reports aren’t coming out for a while.”

And just for good measure, the Patriots coach played another song from his greatest hits, “When they’re required, you’ll get ‘em. You can count on that.”

UPDATE: Judon participated in five team snaps today.

As I reported yesterday, the Patriots and Judon’s camp discussed his contract situation this offseason but no resolution was agreed upon. We remain hopeful that we’ll speak to Judon today; he’s tentatively scheduled to talk post-practice. Then again, it was the same yesterday but changed once Judon repaired to the lower grass fields with other players rehabbing various injuries. 

As it stands now, Judon is underpaid, having outperformed a 4-year deal signed two seasons ago. He has 28 sacks over that time and has been an important personality in that locker room. Even Belichick appreciates Judon’s attitude and the energy he brings. 

“Always good,” Belichick said this morning. “Wears the red. Brightens things up.”

He would seem to be a player worthy of taking care of, even if it’s just a contract sweetener for this year. But what makes sense and what happens in Foxborough don’t always go hand-in-hand.