Patriots release long snapper Joe Cardona after 10 seasons with team (2025)

Patriots

With Cardona no longer on the team, Kyle Dugger is the longest-tenured player on the Patriots.

By Conor Ryan

April 29, 2025 | 6:58 PM

2 minutes to read

It’s the end of an era in Foxborough, as the Patriots cut ties with a longtime veteran in long snapper Joe Cardona on Tuesday afternoon.

New England announced Cardona’s release just two days after the Patriots selected another long snapper — Vanderbilt’s Julian Ashby — in the seventh round (No. 251 overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Cardona was New England’s longest-tenured player, first joining the team in 2015 and eventually winning two Super Bowls with the franchise.

With Cardona no longer on the team, the Patriots don’t have a player on their roster that won a Super Bowl with the franchise — with Kyle Dugger (2020 Draft) standing as the team’s longest-tenured player.

Cardona, 33, is coming off a 2024 season where he recorded four tackles and also recorded a forced fumble. His exit also marks the latest in a significant overhaul of New England’s leadership group.

Last season, the Patriots had six captains: Jacoby Brissett, David Andrews, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Deatrich Wise, Jabrill Peppers, and Cardona.

Now only Peppers remains on the roster — with the safety also losing his captain status last year following his October arrest for a domestic dispute. Peppers was later acquitted in January of charges that he assaulted a woman at his Braintree home in October.

Andrews, Bentley, and Cardona were all released by the team this offseason, while both Brissett and Wise signed contracts with other teams in free agency.

Cardona, who is also a lieutenant in the Navy, earned the USAA 2023 Salute to Service Award — which is given to a member of the NFL who honors and supports the military community.

“Joe embodied the Patriot way,” former Patriots wide receiver Julain Edelman said of Cardona on social media. “He was a great teammate on the field, but even an even better guy off the field. Looking forward to what the next chapter holds for ya, Lieutenant Cardona.”

The Patriots will now move forward with Ashby in place as the team’s long snapper.

Speaking after the 2025 NFL Draft, Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said he was impressed with Ashby’s potential.

“Julian Ashby was a player that we liked. We felt like he was the best long snapper in the draft,” Wolf said. “Through some of the conversations that we had, we felt like he might not be someone that would be available post-draft. Again, wanting to add some competition to the roster, we decided to pull the trigger there late.”