Camp Conversations: Defense still Patriots’ top unit despite moving parts, question marks

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — There was one notable absence on the practice fields outside of Gillette Stadium when the Patriots began their second training camp practice of 2024.

Defensive tackle Davon Godchaux, who has expressed dissatisfaction with his contract situation, was not among his teammates as they took the turf to stretch on Thursday.

While the 29-year-old was present for Day One, and wound up making his way to the field (without a helmet) towards the backend of Day Two, it’s clear that something is up. Headed into the final year of the two-year, $20.8 million extension he signed in 2022, Godchaux tweeted prior to camp, “Hopefully we can get something done that’s fair to me and my team… I love NE, I would love to retire here but it’s has to make sense for us! What I do on the football field in the trenches most of time doesn’t show on the stat sheet but turn on the film you will see it if “U know” ball! Would love to finish my career here in NE but it has to make sense to me and my team! 🙏🏾💪🏾.”

After a de facto hold-in throughout the offseason program this Spring, it’s clear he’s looking for another pay bump.

Godchaux’s counterpart on defense, linebacker Matthew Judon, is also looking to be paid his worth. The three-time Pro Bowler told us on Tuesday after practice that while he “has” to play on his current contract because he signed it, he doesn’t want to.

“Would I like to? No. Is that my value? No.”

Judon has made it clear through intermediaries, as well as his own social media accounts, that he’s displeased with the remaining, non-guaranteed, salary he’s on for 2024.

On top of these contract disputes on the Patriots defense to start camp, defensive tackle Christian Barmore (who signed a massive, four-year deal with a max. value of $92 million this offseason) was a limited participant on Wednesday due to being under the weather, and aecond-year hybrid defender Marte Mapu has been limited through two days with what is reportedly a hand injury — forcing defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington to call on special teamer Brenden Schooler to take first-team safety reps through just two days of camp.

There’s even some question mark-adjacent happenings in the cornerback room, with the Patriots essentially holding an open tryout for all cornerbacks not named Christian Gonzalez. That is, of course, the name of the game in training camp — but the lack of an emergence from offseason-program stud Alex Austin on the outside has me holding my breath. So far it’s been primarily Jonathan Jones on the perimeter and Marcus Jones in the slot, which is all well and good in a vacuum, but ideally you’d like to see J. Jones on the inside, with M. Jones as your rotational piece/punt return specialist (he was an All-Pro there as a rookie in 2022).

Despite all of the moving parts and attempts at question marks, however, New England’s defense has been the clear winner through the first several practice sessions of 2024. That defensive backfield I just attempted to diminish? They’ve been flying around as nauseum with pass breakups and blanket coverage. Along the defensive line? Guys like Keion White and Joe Giles-Harris have pretty much made life hell for an offensive line that’s gone through more switches than an NBA defense.

Oh yeah — and there’s also the linebacker room, with no true flare up’s or second guesses so far, led by stalwart veterans Ja’Whaun Bentley and Jahlani Tavai.

“[We’ve] got dynamic players…” Bentley, a defensive captain, said of his unit on Tuesday. “We’re not necessarily a tough defense to coach. We have a lot of leaders on our defense, we’ve got a lot of veterans on our defense… we’ve got a lot of ballers on our defense. So it’s like, we just need a signal caller, just give us the blueprint, and we’ll get it done from there.”

“It’s a different vibe, of course,” said Tavai when asked about what the Patriots are building under new head coach Jerod Mayo. “You can see a lot of people smiling nowadays, and laughing, and giggling. I think it still just comes down to playing football. We’re out here playing football, the game that we love, and hopefully we just create that team chemistry we wanna have coming into the season.”

He later added: “The sky’s the limit for this team.”

Now is this, like everything through the first 72 hours of the NFL season, to be taken with a grain of salt? Of course, the offense is doing its best to acclimate a rookie quarterback into the league with a sub-optimal arsenal of weapons. But at the same time, we’ve already seen this defense against viable opponents in the past.

Once things are truly buttoned up come the end of August/beginning of September, this unit will be a scary sight any and all offenses that have to face it. They may even end up being the reason why the Patriots win a few more games than expected in this rebuilding 2024 season.

Follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!