Sources – patriots to publish David Andrews, long -time center and team captain

Foxborough, mass. – The New England Patriots are changing in the center and has separated from one of their franchise pillars in the past ten years.

David Andrews, an eight-time captain and twice Super Bowl champion, will be published by the Patriots on Thursday, several sources said ESPN.

The 32 -year -old Andrews rehabilitates from the shoulder surgery, which limited him to four games last season. If he decides not to extend his career elsewhere, he expects the patriots to hold pension provision so that he would honor his widespread contributions to the franchise.

If things unfold like this, it would reflect what happened to the recipient Julian Edelman, who had a chronic knee injury and was released as a procedural step before announcing his retirement in 2021.

Andrews, who played in 124 games in the regular season (121 starts) and 12 playoff games (10 starts) with New England, was selected as the center for the Patriots all-decade team. His rise from Undrafted Free Agent from 2015 to week 1 as a beginner as a rookie was one of the top outsiders of the patriots recently.

Andrews, an alum of the University of Georgia, icited the former coach Bill Belichick for the opportunity to play in the NFL, and said he was the only head coach who personally elaborates him personally before the draft from 2015.

Andrews, who, together with Long Snapper Joe Cardona, was the longest observed players of the patriots, entered the last year of his contract in 2025 and had planned to earn a basic salary of $ 4 million. In May 2024, the patriots added the 2025 season to his contract, an extension that was guaranteed to include 8 million US dollars.

Andrews started the first four games last season before a shoulder injury was necessary, in which he made it possible to surgery in the injured reserve. He has rehabilitated in the past five months.

The day after the 2024 season, Andrews summarized his situation.

“I did everything to play (in 2024) and it didn’t go well,” he said. “I had to make a difficult decision to know that the operation was not going well and it could lead to more problems. But luckily it went well.

“Look, I know that this is a hard business. The organization could come to me and tell me that it is time to continue. I could go down in OTAS or training camp and know that I cannot. If the organization decides to go in other ways, this is your choice and I hope that is not. I want to play football.

Andrews’ emptiness will be a challenge for the patriots to fill themselves.

On the field you have Ben Brown’s players (10 starts in the third year in 2024) and Cole Strange (two starts in 2024) in the deep card in the center and backup Lecitus Smith.

Off the Field, Andrews was the Ron Burton Community Service winner of the team in 2020, the most prestigious off-Field honor that the franchise spent. Andrews also served as the DE -Facto spokesman for the changing room and was often the first player who arrived for postgame interviews.