Christopher L. Gasper from The Boston Globe reports...

The Patriots have signed a replacement for long snapper Lonie Paxton, who defected to Denver on the first day of free agency, signing a five-year, $5.38 million deal. New England announced today it has signed longtime Arizona Cardinals long snapper Nathan Hodel.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

No word on how good Hodel is at making a snow angel, but he has been reliable like Paxton. According to the team's release, starting with the beginning of the 2002 season, he made every long snap for Arizona over a period of seven seasons through 2008.