Buccaneers fans, in the fire and chaos that the Jets and Haason Reddick have created, one thing that may have slipped under the radar is Matthew Judon seeming to want out. It’s one thing to request a trade, but to openly feud with the head coach (a former LB at that) is quite another. There are teams that have a greater need for Judon than the Bucs, but that is not to say his services wouldn’t be unwanted.
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The first thing to consider if the Bucs would want to and what we would have to give up. There are three things that would drive down trade value: his injury history if any, age, and the fact a team would need to extend him. Age is not something we would be able to solve, however, he does not have a history of being injured. Except for 2016 and 2020 where he missed two games, he has played every single game for every other season. But as you do get older, it becomes harder to recover from injury, especially one that ended his season.
Then of course there is the question of a deal. He knows how old he is, he knows what last season was for him. I can’t imagine him even wanting as much as Reddick. While he did reject a deal from the Patriots, we don’t know what that was, so it’s hard to know if the deal was insultingly low or fair to his production. The Bucs do have cap space, so if the deal is reasonable, he could help the team a lot.
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This team could use some pass rush depth. in the pre-season game. They couldn’t get any traction on the Bengals O-line. And the Bengals o-line is a sieve with the starters. Randy Gregory was supposed to be that depth, but I don’t know where he is. I’m not sure the team knows either. While the Buccaneers have a promising star in Yaya Diaby and second rounder Chris Braswell, there is not much after them. Rookie edge rushers are also not known for breaking out super early.
Getting Matthew Judon does a lot for the team. He provides leadership to one of the youngest position groups on the team. And unlike Gregory, I still have faith in his abilities. Gregory after leaving Dallas was downright awful. He was either injured or so ineffective that fans probably thought he was still on IR. Here’s a fun stat for you, in 4 games in 2023, Judon had four sacks (honestly not bad). In the 22 games after leaving Dallas, Gregory has 5.5 sacks. I was positive about this guy. But Judon could help Braswell develop without having undue pressure to have to start in 2024. In my initial Gregory article, I always figured that the Bucs would have to play Braswell just to get something going when Gregory ran out of gas (like what happened with Shaq Barrett and Diaby). But Judon does still have ability left.
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Do I think that the Buccaneers will make this move? Probably not. They seem confident with their group of edge rushers. However, the Gregory cut will soon be here. If they feel that they need that vet presence, Judon would be one of the most talented (if not necessarily cheap) ones they could get. It would let Braswell hopefully sit for longer as he adapts to the NFL.
Fun fact, this would’ve been written about Haason Reddick, but the Jets are the Jets.
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