Joe

Cardona

The financials of the deal were not immediately made available. Cardona, an 11-year veteran that played the first 10 seasons of his career in New England, has missed only four games during his sprawling career after entering the league out of Navy. He offers consistency for a special teams unit that struggled mightily a season ago.

The former Navy Midshipman spent 10 seasons with the Patriots after they drafted him in the 2015 NFL Draft’s fifth round. The 33-year-old long snapper earned a 71.8 PFF special teams grade last year, the second-best of his career. The move keeps him in the AFC East, with far better weather expected for home games.

The team selected his replacement, Julian Ashby, in the seventh round of the draft. This snapper of balls who are longer than usual is only 33, and it’s possible he picks up his career elsewhere. There aren’t too many remaining Patriots Regimes in the wild in 2025, but Nick Caserio does still run the Texans, and they let Jon Weeks walk this offseason, so that’s one speculative fit.

The Navy man — who was actually drafted by the Patriots in 2015 — has been snapping the ball farther than regular snaps in New England for his entire career. Coach Bill Belichick has been enamored with Cardona’s leadership since the second he arrived in Boston. Cardona is just the man if you need a snap to go a greater distance than is typical.

It means fifth-rounder Joe Cardona will be available for the season. A Navy product, Cardona was potentially going to have to serve this year. Cardona could still be recalled to the navy at any time.

Cardona was the Pats’ long snapper last season after becoming the first long snapper to be drafted since 2009. The Lions took fellow LS Jimmy Landes in the sixth round last week. Cardona was able to juggle his football and military commitments last year, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be so lucky in 2016.

A Navy grad, it’s not yet clear if Cardona will be allowed to begin his NFL career. He may have to report for duty. Cardona was the first pure long snapper drafted since 2009.

Cardona (6'2/242) was the clear-cut best long snapper in the draft and is the first player at the position selected in six years. There were pre-draft whispers that he wouldn’t be available to the NFL full-time for a couple years thanks to service commitments, but the Patriots clearly don’t think that will be an obstacle. “Really like the size, the velocity,” one coach told the Journal-Sentinel. “He’s athletic enough to protect. He runs pretty well for a big kid. He’s strong. He’s tough.”

“The decision is out of my hands,” said Cardona, who doesn’t have an exact timeframe for when he’ll find out. “Right now I’m prepared to be the best football player I can be for the New England Patriots and the best naval officer I can be.” Even if Cardona does get the OK to play in the NFL, he can be called back to duty anytime if needed. Only Bill Belichick can get away with using a fifth-round pick on a long snapper who may not even be available to the team.

The Patriots actually used a fifth-round pick on Cardona in 2015. Analytics on snapping the ball a longer distance than it is usually snapped are scarce, but Cardona must be quite adept at it.