A close-up view of a football player holding a football next to his black helmet with a teal, orange and black dolphin logo.
Miami Dolphins long snapper Joe Cardona warms up before the team’s game against the New York Jets on Sept. 29, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Joe Cavaretta, South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS)
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (Tribune News Service) — The first time that I really noticed Lt. Cmdr. Joe Cardona was when he was doing pass defense drills with the Miami Dolphins linebackers. Cardona, a 33-year-old supply and logistics officer attached to a West Coast-based Navy special warfare unit, seemed to move pretty well for a long snapper.
Yes, Lt. Cmdr. Joe Cardona is Dolphins long snapper Joe Cardona, perhaps the most intriguing guy in the locker room. Cardona attended the Naval Academy and is an active reservist in the Navy.
Football was his fallback plan. The Navy was his No. 1 plan.
“The only thing I wanted to do was fly jets,” said Cardona, who is in his first year with the Dolphins. “I wanted to fly F-18s.”
But when they took his measurements, he didn’t qualify.
“My sitting height was too tall,” the 6-foot-2, 241-pound Cardona said. “My torso was too long to fly jets.”
So while playing football at the Naval Academy, Cardona, a native of El Cajon, Calif., located about 17 miles east of San Diego, got serious about long snapping.
And now here he is, in his 11th NFL season, with a better career than almost everyone on the Dolphins’ roster.
In his first four NFL seasons, Cardona, a 2015 fifth-round pick of the New England Patriots, played in three Super Bowls and won two. He was named to the Patriots’ all-dynasty team (2001-19). He values his time with one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties.
“Looking back, obviously it was a special time, a special team to be a part of with a lot of very, very good players that you can go up and down the roster and say any number of guys at that time were at the top of their position around the league,” Cardona said. “So very, very fortunate to be a part of those teams. And really, you had to earn it every single day. And when you’re in it, you feel the pressure of performing. But not for championships. You feel the pressure of performing for your teammates.”
A Miami Dolphins football player in a teal No. 49 jersey puts his white helmet on as he stands on the field, with blurred people on the sideline in the background.
Miami Dolphins long snapper Joe Cardona warms up prior to the team’s game against the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 5, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (Rusty Jones/AP)
Cardona has been a good snapper for the Dolphins. He has three tackles this season, and he’s greatly appreciated by his punter, Jake Bailey, who was with him in New England from 2019-22.
“He snaps it so accurate,” Bailey said. “He’s excellent in protection, excellent in coverage. He’s always making tackles. It’d be hard to find a better snapper that does all of those things as good as he does across the league. I don’t think there is one.”
But Cardona’s greater value might be behind the scenes. He talks to coach Mike McDaniel. He talks to special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman. He communicates with veterans. He communicates with youngsters.
“Just having Joe and his leadership qualities has really helped out those young players,” Aukerman said.
Cardona is the first player the media sees upon entering the Dolphins’ locker room every day. Sometimes he’s got something funny to say.
Here’s an example of Cardona’s sense of humor: the Dolphins signed edge rusher Andre Carter II, who attended Army, a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps on purpose, Carter’s locker is right next to Cardona’s. So, as a welcome gift, Cardona put a Navy sweatshirt on Carter’s seat.
“That’s my way of just welcoming him to the team,” Cardona said with a wry grin. “Instead of quizzing him on what my Army-Navy record was (4-0), I just figured I’d welcome him with some merch of a good team. A really good team.”
Cardona comes from a Navy family. His dad was an enlisted sailor as an avionics technician for 24 years. He’s now a civil service government employee training sailors and Marines on avionics platforms.
“He’s still in the fight, still there working,” Cardona said.
As a long snapper, Cardona is mostly anonymous, especially if he’s playing well.
That’s why I first noticed Cardona going through a pass defense drill with the linebackers. He seemed to have good athleticism and good hands, which makes sense considering he played football, multiple positions on both sides of the ball, and lacrosse in high school. He played some linebacker, too.
Cardona is a good athlete, and good at his job. Actually, I have a feeling Cardona is good at both of his jobs.
He credits former New England coach Bill Belichick for allowing him to work two jobs early in his career.
“My first job was being an officer in the Navy,” Cardona said.
Cardona, whose NFL job was based in Foxborough, Mass., would leave Foxborough at dawn on Tuesday morning to serve a duty day, a 24-hour Navy shift in nearby Newport, R.I. He’d drive back to Foxborough for midweek practices, and after Thursday’s practice he’d head back to Newport before going back to Foxborough.
“They didn’t care what I did on the weekend,” Cardona said of the Navy. “They said as long as you take care of what you need to in this job, we don’t care what you do in your free time. And so I moonlit as an NFL player on active duty.”
You gain lots of insight talking to Cardona about military service, NFL football, leadership and achievement. He’s genuine, perceptive and humble. He also might be the smartest guy in the locker room.
Ask him how he judges whether he had a successful game, or career, and I guarantee you’ll be impressed.
“Ultimately the expectation as a specialist is to do our specialized skill extremely well, that’s base level. ‘Did I have good snaps?’ ” he said. “And then after that, my ultimate goal is to be a good football player, to be an asset in coverage and not be a liability in protection. And then outside of that, we do play a team sport. So my ultimate goal is to be a good teammate.
“One day, when I’m done playing, who knows when that may be, but I’m closer to the end than the beginning, that’s for sure. But I hope to be remembered as a tough player and a great teammate. So if that’s what makes a good long snapper in the eyes of general managers and scouts, I don’t know. But to me, that’s how I measure the success of my career.”
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