AP

Earlier on Thursday, we shared Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus’ comments about his confidence that Ravens wide receiver Keenan Reynolds will be able to both play football and fulfill his commitment to the Navy in the coming year.

It’s something that Patriots long snapper Joe Cardona was able to do during his rookie season in 2015. During the same interview on The Dan Patrick Show, Mabus said that he wasn’t sure if things would work out the same way for Cardona during the 2016 season.

“We’ve got Joe Cardona, long snapper for the Patriots,” Mabus said. “He played last year for the Patriots. While he was on active duty because he was able to work them both out. He’s been assigned to a ship and he’s going to report to that ship. So he may have to leave the Patriots for the year to go fulfill that role.”

Cardona’s duties have kept him from taking part in the team’s offseason activities. The Patriots recently signed former Browns long snapper Christian Yount, a move which may have been predicated by Cardona’s possible absence.