Other than Cardona, four - FOUR - have been drafted in 15 years. And one of those was Belichick's boy Robinson. Maybe I'm wrong about the value of long snappers but long snappers are almost never drafted. There's nothing else to say.
You might be right, you might be wrong, but either way, it's clear you don't understand the way the team operates. It isn't about what the Kipers or the Mayocks or the armchair QBs think or say.
The Patriots are one of a few teams that don't subscribe to any of the scouting services, and part of that reason is that they evaluate players completely different. Players aren't considered in terms of round (this guy is a 2nd rounder, this guy is a 4th rounder, et cetera). Instead, they are evaluated against the existing roster, compared against what we have and whether they could be upgrades or not, and whether there is a role for them.
That's why guys like Mark Anderson had success here despite flaming out before and after. The Bears and Bills wanted him to be a do-it-all starter and drafted or paid him accordingly. But BB knew what he was, and more importantly, what he wasn't. He found a role for him, a place on the roster where we could use his skillset.
And that's why a guy like Cardona makes sense in the 5th regardless of what you or Kiper or anyone else thinks. He was a clear upgrade at that spot, he might not have lasted until the next round, and he was significantly better than all of the other long snappers available. For a team with a ton of depth and no glaring holes, the pick makes a ton of sense. Maybe the Jaguars or Dolphins can't afford to make that pick because they have much bigger needs, but the upgrade at that spot was well worth a 5th-round pick.
They could have drafted a project at WR or a high-potential RB. But would it be a clear upgrade? For example, if that WR gets some snaps and catches 25 passes, you're thinking that's better than a 5th-round long snapper. But those catches might come at somebody else's expense. It looks good on paper, but it really isn't a net benefit if the guy he replaced could have caught 25 passes too. It's only a benefit if the guy he replaced was worse and might only catch 15 of those passes. Otherwise you're just adding redundancy to the position.
But Cardona was a clear-cut upgrade at an under-rated but pretty vital position. You can make fun of long snappers all you want, but I don't think you'll find 5 5th-rounders in last year's draft who were bigger upgrades at positions on their respective teams.
I'd take it one step further. Cardona was a bigger upgrade at his position than Richards or Grissom or Flowers were at theirs. Jackson and Mason both started games, but were they significant upgrades over Wendell and Connolly the year before? I'd argue not really, maybe slight upgrades, although they both have potential to grow while the old guys are declining. But neither was an upgrade to the level of Cardona, who probably was a bigger upgrade at his position than all of the Patriots rookies except for Brown (some might even argue over Brown).
And when you add up the punts, FGs, and XPs, Cardona executed his job 158 times. That's roughly 14% of the team's offensive snaps. He's not kicking the ball either. He's snapping to a precise location, then getting hammered by a much bigger guy and then running down the field to put a hat on somebody. And sure, it's not as difficult as deciphering a defense or running through a double-team and making a one-handed catch, but that's a lot of plays to perform on, and if you mess it up once, everyone remembers it. I noticed maybe 2 or 3 slightly-off snaps, and the rest of the time it was fine.
As for the long snapper Detroit drafted who was surprised, I don't know why. No surprise, former Patriot Director of Scouting Bob Quinn, who had been with the team in various capacities for 15 years, became the Lions GM this year.
Long snappers are like referees, you don't notice them when they're doing their job, you only notice when they **** up. And Cardona was incredibly unnoticeable as a rookie. Which was absolutely fine with me.
