Patriots' Matthew Judon Dishes Hilarious Story on His Jersey Number

The New England Patriots edge rusher had his eyes on another number before nine...

Sep 24, 2023; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New England Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon (9) / Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Despite joining the New England Patriots dawning the number nine, it seems it wasn't Matthew Judon's first choice when he came into the fold.

It was within the 2021 NFL offseason when Judon came aboard in New England on a four-year, $54 million deal, and then came time to pick his identity on the field for his new team, where things failed to fall in his favor.

During his appearance on The Money Down Podcast, hosted by former Patriots back James White, Judon dove into how he ended up with the jersey number he has today, revealing a comical backstory in the process.

"There was a player with the number I wanted," Judon said. "And I was like, 'Bro, I'll pay you for it,' and he was like, 'Nah.' He gave me some sad sob story of why he was keeping the number, and it pissed me off, bro. It pissed me off so bad, man. I was just so thankful that the league let us go to single digits because nobody was wearing nine. So, I was like, 'Bet. That's my number anyway.' That's what I wore in college... I wasn't hating on the man, but I was sad. Like, he got cut and didn't even let me have the number. I said I'd give him a Rolex!"

While Judon may have not explicitly handed out the name of the player in question, we could dig a bit deeper to find the culprit.

Considering Judon wore his number 99 with his time in a Baltimore Ravens uniform, it's reasonable to expect he wanted to retain the digits he started with his career with. However, defensive tackle Byron Cowart (now with the Chicago Bears) was the player to hold the rights to 99 from 2018-2020, also fitting the criteria of getting cut before the 2021 season, inevitably drawing some suspicion his way.

In the end, though, Judon stuck with number nine en route to his 32 sacks in his three years with the franchise and continues to wear it to this day.

(...and in case you were curious, Cowart hasn't worn the number 99 since his time with the Patriots came to an end.)