Joe Cardona will play for Patriots in 2016
It appears that New England Patriots long snapper Joe Cardona will be eligible to play in the NFL this upcoming season. According to Paul Pabst, producer of the Dan Patrick Show, Navy Secretary Mabus has informed Cardona and rookie Keenan Reynolds that they have been approved for NFL play in 2016.
Former @NavyAthletics QB Keenan Reynolds can play in the NFL and fulfill his military obligation in the Naval Reserve Force. @dpshow
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) May 13, 2016
Navy Secretary Mabus has alerted both @kreynolds_19 and Patriots @joecardona93 of his decision. Will be announced later today. @dpshow
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) May 13, 2016
Navy Secretary @SECNAV has spoken Ravens Steve Bisciotti/John Harbaugh and Patriots Robert Kraft/Bill Belichick to let them know.
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) May 13, 2016
Some of you may have heard that Cardona’s 2016 season was in up in the air due to a possible obligation with the Navy. Secretary Mabus said this recently on the Dan Patrick Show:
"We’ve got Joe Cardona, long snapper for the Patriots. He played . . . last year for the Patriots while he was on active duty because he was able to work them both out. Now he’s been assigned to a ship, and he’s going to report to that ship. He may have to leave the Patriots for a year or so to go fulfill that roll.”"
In anticipation of Cardona’s departure, the Patriots scooped up Christian Yount, who has been out of football for a year. He spent the 2011-2014 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns.
From a Patriots perspective, this is good news. Cardona has been with the Patriots for a year and is fully aware of the consequences of messing up a snap in New England. Yount, on the other hand, is going to need to wipe the dust off his skills having been on the couch for all of last season.
The No. 166 pick of the 2015 NFL Draft appeared in all 16 regular season games for the Patriots, accomplishing the task at hand week in and week out. It’s not easy to stick around at such a high-pressure position on a Bill Belichick-coached team; Cardona proved as a rookie that he is a fine long snapper.
UPDATED 12:05 P.M. EST – there’s still one more hurdle before Cardona is officially set for NFL play in 2016:
Office of the Secretary of Defense will make final call on availability of Patriots LS Joe Cardona. Things looking good, but not official.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) May 13, 2016
Next: AFC Power Rankings: Pats top post-draft edition
Stay tuned for further reaction of this news over the weekend.