Joe Cardona, also known as Joseph Cardona, is a long snapper for the New England Patriots of the National Football League, wearing jersey number 49. His birthday is April 16, 1992, and he is currently 30 years old.
Cardona is a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. After finishing high school, Cardona spent a year at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island, before going on to the Naval Academy, where he majored in economics.
Cardona was selected 166th overall in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He represented the Navy in college football.
He is the second-highest drafted long snapper in NFL history, behind Ryan Pontbriand, and only the fourth player ever to be categorized as a long snapper to be selected in the first round.
He won Super Bowl LI and Super Bowl LIII with the Patriots. Cardona became the fourth pure long snapper to be selected in NFL history on May 2, 2015, when the New England Patriots took him in the fifth round (166th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft (and the second drafted by the Patriots, after Jake Ingram).
Cardona worked a 24-hour shift as the command duty officer at the Naval Academy Preparatory School during his first season. In a ceremony held at Gillette Stadium on June 7, 2019, Cardona was elevated to the rank of lieutenant.
The ceremony was held the day after the 75th anniversary of D-Day and on the same day as the Patriots’ Super Bowl LIII victory ring ceremony.