Six years after their sixth and most recent Super Bowl title, the New England Patriots made the difficult decision to part ways with the last remaining member of their championship core.
On Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Mike Reiss revealed that the Patriots will release starting center David Andrews after nine seasons with the team.
The 32-year-old Andrews rose quickly after signing with the Patriots as an undrafted free agent before the 2015 season, becoming the starting center by Week 1 and holding the position through the 2024 campaign. In total, Andrews played in 124 regular season games and 12 more in the postseason, earning a pair of Super Bowl rings in the process. Though Andrews never received any individual accolades, he was a key leader in the locker room throughout his Patriots tenure and was named captain eight times.
As great as Andrews’ decade-long career was, it was clear that things were coming to an end. A shoulder injury limited him to just four games in 2024, and with Andrews set to earn $8 million in 2025 and the Mike Vrabel era set to take shape, there was a sense that it was time to turn the page. The Patriots will likely turn to either Ben Brown or former first-round pick Cole Strange to take Andrews’ place, each of whom started games at center in his absence in 2024.
Should Andrews decline to continue his NFL career elsewhere, it is all but certain that the Patriots will hold a retirement ceremony and possibly elect him into their Hall of Fame in the coming years.
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