'Leave Me the F Alone!': Patriots' Matthew Judon Rips NFL's Drug Testing
Matthew Judon leads the NFL in sacks, but he might be closing in on a more advanced, niche metric ... and he's none too pleased about it.
The New England Patriots' star pass-rusher took to Twitter to reveal that another dominant evening of backfield invasions drew the NFL's attention ... and, alas, the AFC's Defensive Player of the Week Award is headed to a teammate's locker. Instead, Judon was called upon for a random drug test, one where the sack master is doubting the legitimacy of the "random" aspect.
"Leave me the F alone please," Judon virtually pleaded with the NFL and NFL Players Association, attaching a photo of the text message that summoned him to such testing. "(There's) no way this is random. I take melatonin to sleep sometimes. The rest is just vibes."
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health defines melatonin as "a hormone that your brain produces in response to darkness (that) helps with the timing of your circadian rhythms (24-hour internal clock) and with sleep." Elsewhere, the United States Anti-Doping Agency has made it clear that athletes are allowed to take melatonin but that it is "only available as a dietary supplement and all dietary supplements come with some amount of risk."
Judon, who added 1.5 sacks to his total of 14.5 in Monday's win over the Arizona Cardinals, has made it clear that this isn't the first time that the NFL has "randomly" drawn his name for extra scrutiny. Following the Thanksgiving loss to Minnesota, Judon publicly wondered what the limit was on random drug tests while he tried to deal with the situation through humor after the following week's defeat to Buffalo, jokingly implying that the NFL was planning its own attack of the clones.
"At this point (they're) building another me with all the nose swabs (and) pee they got from me," Judon declared.
Judon has been one of the Patriots' primary forces behind a late playoff push, one that got back on track with the 27-13 win over the Cardinals in the desert. It appears that he'll have to fight not only New England's remaining opponents but the NFL's scientists as well. Despite the increased scrutiny, Judon has been found guilty of no wrongdoing just yet ... and the Patriots certainly hope it stays that way.
The postseason drive for Judon and the Patriots continues on Sunday late afternoon when New England battles the Las Vegas Raiders (4:05 p.m. ET, Fox).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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