The Patriots’ drama with Matthew Judon has ended, with New England sending their star pass rusher to the Falcons in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, according to NFL Network.

Judon, who will play the 2024 season on the final year of his contract, has been critical of the Patriots throughout the offseason for not getting a new deal, and it finally ended with him getting traded.

“I don’t want to be the villain. I don’t want to be the bad guy,” Judon told the “Shut Up Marc Podcast” in July. “But it’s like, shoot, bro, help me out. We’ve got the most cap [space] in the league right now. They don’t even get the money. What the hell are y’all doing with it? Y’all literally just not using it.”

So the first edition of the Patriots’ defense under new head coach Jerod Mayo will have to adjust without one of its top stars, who collected 15.5 sacks in 2022 and 12.5 sacks in 2021.