FOXBOROUGH — At first glance, training camp has been smooth sailing for the Patriots. Mac Jones and the offense have shown improvement in recent days. Bill O’Brien has practice running efficiently. The fans love JuJu Smith-Schuster. Even the weather has been perfect.
But that’s not how two franchise legends see things.
Something is happening that Rob Gronkowski calls “one of the weirdest things I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s so weird that Bill [Belichick] would let that happen,” said Rob Ninkovich.
The two were speaking on the Dan & Ninko podcast, with Gronk as the guest.
They are guys who spent nearly a decade in Foxborough, won multiple Super Bowls, and will go into the team’s Hall of Fame. They know of what they speak when it comes to the Patriots and Belichick.
And they can’t believe what’s going on with edge defender Matthew Judon.
Judon participated in a few drills last week and had one full day Friday. But after the Patriots put on pads Monday, he didn’t practice for four days. He’s only conditioning on the lower field and stretching with teammates at the end of practice.
The theory behind Judon’s absence — which Judon didn’t fully deny when asked Friday ― is that he’s “holding in,” i.e. refusing to practice in full because he wants the Patriots to give him a pay raise. Judon, who made the Pro Bowl last year, has an $11 million salary and $1.5 million in bonuses this year, which puts him on the lower end of the elite pass rushers.
Judon skipped voluntary workouts this offseason and hasn’t participated much in training camp. But he was there for mandatory minicamp in June, and reported for training camp on time, ensuring that he didn’t incur mandatory fines.
“I’m happy that I’m a Patriot, and wherever that goes, it goes,” Judon said. “The market changes every day, but I will not talk about contracts with y’all.”
Judon’s half-in, half-out approach isn’t sitting well with the two former Patriots.
“Matthew Judon holding out right now at training camp and not participating in drills is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever heard,” Gronk said.
“Isn’t that silly?” Ninkovich responded.
“That’s silly,” Gronk continued. “I don’t know. Just go hold out. You don’t want to get fined, but you’re asking for more money, but you don’t want to get fined? Well, if you’re asking for more money, then be a boss and ask them to cancel the fines out when you get a new deal or something.
“I don’t know. It’s a weird situation, it’s silly.”
Gronkowski, who knows a thing or two about wanting a pay raise from the Patriots, wasn’t just critical of Judon. He was surprised that Belichick and the Patriots would seemingly allow Judon to dictate his practice schedule.
“Bill letting that happen, that is weird,” said Gronkowski. “He always says, ‘You’re either all in, or you’re all out.’
“Is he losing control or something? I don’t know.”
“It’s a bad situation,” Ninkovich said. “It’s a weird situation because this is the first time that Bill has ever had that on his team.”
I asked Patriots PR if Judon wanted to respond to Gronk’s and Ninkovich’s comments but didn’t hear back after Thursday’s practice.
The situation could certainly be much ado about nothing. Many star players across the league have their snaps managed early in training camp. Judon, who turns 31 in two weeks, needs to be ready to play in September, not on Aug. 3.
“I think y’all know what I do on Sundays,” Judon said. “We got 90 players out here right now, so that was kind of in the talks. We got 90 players, let’s wait a little bit.”
Judon certainly doesn’t give the appearance of a player who wants out of Foxborough. He stretches with his teammates at the end of practice. He treats fans to autographs and games of catch.
“Everything has made it to where I want to stay here for the rest of my career,” he said.
If it is a contractual squabble, Judon wouldn’t be wrong for wanting a raise. His playing window is closing, he’s the best player on the defense, and he has provided elite production the last two seasons. By “holding in,” he avoids mandatory fines of $50,000 per day while still letting it be known that he is unhappy with his contract.
And if it’s not contractual, and Judon is simply asking for an easier training camp and managed snaps, it may very well benefit him. Last year, he spoke openly about wanting to pace himself better, and it resulted in a career-high 15.5 sacks (though only 2.5 over the final seven games).
“It’s day to day, but when I’m out here ready to go, I’m full go,” Judon said. “You’re not going to see me dipping a toe in. I’m diving from 10 feet in and it doesn’t matter.”
But Gronkowski and Ninkovich are dismayed that the Patriots’ defensive leader isn’t out on the practice field leading his teammates. That never would have happened during the dynasty years.
“This is the problem,” Ninkovich said. “When you have a potential leader that is disgruntled, that these young guys are looking at, and he doesn’t have good leadership skills, he doesn’t want to show up or doesn’t want to take reps, that affects these young guys.”
“It trickles down, a trickle-down effect,” Gronk responded.
Ninkovich relayed how he once was disgruntled about his contract during training camp, and Tom Brady talked him out of it (as an aside: how many millions did Brady save the Krafts over the years?).
“One time I had a little issue and I should’ve been paid more,” Ninkovich said. “I was talking to Tom in the locker room one time, and he said, ‘Rob-o, look at me. If you want to have a great team and you want to create something, sometimes you got to deal with the [expletive] and just push through it.’ ”
That’s how things used to be in the glory days. It’s different now, with only a handful of players left from the Super Bowl teams, and a new core that was either brought in via free agency (like Judon) or drafted after Brady had left.
The NFL is different, too, with an emphasis on player safety over grueling training camps. Belichick probably has to accept demands from his players that he could simply laugh off before. It also could explain why the Patriots are just 25-25 since Brady left.
Perhaps Gronkowski and Ninkovich are just disgruntled former players screaming, “Get off my lawn.”
But when two former pillars of the organization are aghast at what they are seeing from one of the team’s leaders, it’s worth paying attention to.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.