Completing a journey from UDFA to rookie starter with the Patriots, David Andrews held that role until 2024. As the Patriots removed all player ties to their Super Bowl teams this offseason, Andrews will not attempt to bounce back in 2025.
The veteran center intends to retire with the Patriots, according to the team. This will wrap a 10-year run, as Andrews became a rare UDFA to play a decade with one franchise.
When the Pats released Andrews in March, he expressed uncertainty about his playing future. The 32-year-old snapper had provided the bridge up front from Tom Brady to Mac Jones to Drake Maye. Garrett Bradbury is on track to be Maye’s center in 2025, but the former Vikings starter will have a tough act to follow.
Andrews made 121 career starts, beginning his run as New England’s starting center in Week 1 of his rookie season. The Georgia product supplanted Bryan Stork in that role and kept it until a blood clot issue kept him out for the entire 2019 campaign. Andrews returned for the 2020 season, beginning the Pats’ post-Brady period, and outlasted the other O-linemen from the Patriots’ Super Bowl years. Although Shaq Mason kept going into the 2020s in New England, the veteran guard has since been traded twice. Andrews managed to stick around for five more seasons, though his 2024 slate ended early due to injury.
A shoulder surgery shut down Andrews, who played just four games last season. The Pats also released him with a failed physical designation, calling into question his readiness for a potential return elsewhere in 2025. Fellow Super Bowl-era Patriot cogs Jonathan Jones and Deatrich Wise (Commanders) and Joe Cardona (Dolphins) have found new homes during the Pats’ offseason makeover; Andrews will pass on a true effort to do so, wrapping a successful career.
More to come.