After any NFL Draft, big moves are bound to be made to a team's roster to make room for the incoming rookies and UDFAs. For the Patriots, that was very much needed, as they selected 11 players in the draft and signed 17 undrafted players, so releasing some bottom-tier players was a must.
They started that by announcing six releases on Monday morning, none of which were a surprise, with the expectation of more to come. That came the following day, as the longest tenured player and the last member of the dynasty roster, long snapper Joe Cardona was released on Tuesday afternoon.
Cardona became the latest casualty of the Mike Vrabel era, with C David Andrews, LB Ja'Whaun Bentley, CB Jonathan Jones, and DE Deatrich Wise Jr. either being released or not re-signed in free agency earlier this offseason.
The long snapper's departure officially ends any lingering members of a Super Bowl-winning Patriots team, something many fans were not ready to accept.
Mike Vrabel continues to clean house by releasing another 2024 season captain
With any new regime, big roster changes are expected. Vrabel's addition certainly didn't change that,, and he's made some significant moves to prove that nobody is safe with their roster spot this offseason.
That was made clear by moving on from Andrews despite the need for improvements on the offensive line, and made even more apparent by releasing Cardona after being on the team since 2015.
It seems Vrabel and Co. knew his time was up going into the draft, as they seemingly drafted his replacement in the seventh round by taking Vanderbilt's Julian Ashby. The writing was on the wall for Cardona from that moment, and it didn't take long for the Patriots to make the move.
Changes were certainly needed to the Patriots roster to make them a competitive team again, and no matter who came in to succeed Jerod Mayo, it was expected that some hard decisions would be made. However, fans were not exactly anticipating Vrabel to get rid of every remaining dynasty-era player on the team, no matter how much sense it made in some cases.
In Cardona's case, he has been as consistent as they come, which led to him being the highest-paid long snapper in the league. He earned that right and was presumably deemed safe, but the desire to create a brand new team is most important for the new regime in New England, so Cardona will be looking for another franchise to play for this fall.