The longest consecutive games played streak of any current New England Patriots player will come to an end this Saturday. And its owner reportedly will not play again this season.
The Patriots on Thursday ruled out long snapper Joe Cardona for their Week 16 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals at Gillette Stadium. A subsequent report from ESPN's Mike Reiss indicated the ankle injury Cardona has been dealing with actually is a torn tendon in his foot that will sideline him until 2023.
Cardona, who has played in all 140 regular-season and postseason games since the Patriots drafted him in 2015, initially suffered a partial tear during New England's Week 14 win over the Arizona Cardinals, per Reiss' report, and played through it in Sunday's loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
"He is expected to be recovered by the spring," Reiss tweeted.
After Cardona's initial injury, which limited him in some of the team's practices at the University of Arizona, the Patriots signed long snapper Tucker Addington to their practice squad.
Addington is a 25-year-old undrafted rookie who has yet to play an NFL snap, regular season or otherwise. He appeared in 10 games for the USFL's Houston Gamblers earlier this year and spent a week on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad in October. Listed at 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, Addington played his college ball at Sam Houston State, completing his career there in 2019, and wears No. 46 for New England.
"(Addington is) getting acclimated," head coach Bill Belichick said after Thursday's practice. "It's timing and acclimation to punt and field goal protection. Obviously in punt protection, there's a lot more to it. But calls, blocking assignments, coverage responsibilities and so forth."
Expect the Patriots to either sign Addington to their 53-man roster or elevate him from the P-squad in the coming days, setting him up to make his NFL debut Saturday against Cincinnati. He'll be the first Patriots long snapper other than Cardona to play in a regular-season or postseason game since Danny Aiken in Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks.
Belichick said having to change snappers this late in the season is "not ideal" but that the Patriots' personnel department always stays prepared for these types of situations. He referenced how New England signed Conor McDermott off the New York Jets' practice squad last month when injuries depleted their offensive tackle depth.
"We wouldn't go into the year saying, 'We hope this is what happens,' " Belichick said. "But when it happens, that's why your personnel department always has who your next-up players are at every position. If you have to go to those players, like Conor McDermott or whoever, then you go to them and try to get them ready. Or if they're on your practice squad, you already have them in your system, then great. If you don't, then you have to go out and get them.
"It's hard to carry back-ups or depth at every single position across your team. You do the best you can. But you have to make decisions on who they are based on their skill, and the position depth that you have there, or don't have. That can change pretty quickly. But yeah, you have to bring somebody in.
"I would just say there's a lot more to bringing in an offensive lineman and him learning the offensive line system than there is a long snapper learning the snapper system. Not diminishing that there isn't a degree of timing and execution in both of them. There is. But every team in the league has to go through that, so it is what it is. It's the National Football League. "
Cardona is the second Patriots specialist to miss time due to injury this season. The first, punter Jake Bailey, returned to practice this week and could come off injured reserve ahead of Saturday's game after sitting out the last five with a back ailment.
The Patriots also ruled out wide receiver DeVante Parker (concussion) and cornerback Jalen Mills (groin).
