By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor 
While it certainly isn’t the most notorious position on the team, it is important nonetheless.
A team’s long snapper can go unnoticed and, often, unknown to some of the team’s biggest fans. Much like an offensive lineman, if you aren’t hearing about them, that’s good news for the team.
However, long snappers do not have the notoriety of offensive lineman and if it weren’t for his success as a magician, many people might not even know who Jon Dorenbos is – and he spent parts of 11 seasons in Philadelphia making two Pro Bowls.
If you were watching the Eagles before they were champions in 2016, you will likely remember when Dorenbos went down, how the Eagles struggled to kick field goals and punt with Brent Celek filling in, then Trey Burton following Celek suffering an injury of his own.
That injury pipeline was plugged with Rick Lovato, a man who had spent parts of the 2015 season with Green Bay and 2016 season with the Redskins filling in for injuries.
Lovato was so good that the Eagles brought him back and traded Dorenbos, a move that forced him to undergo a physical and saved his life.
For their part, the Eagles have never looked back.
On Tuesday, the team extended Lovato four more seasons, keeping him under team control through 2023.
#Eagles have signed LS Rick Lovato to a four-year contract extension through 2023.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/QNFdtwWb6u
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 19, 2019
Lovato was set to become a free agent at the end of this season.
A long snapper can often times be judged by the play of his closest teammates, the kicker and punter, who deal with his snaps.
Cameron Johnston has had just one bad punt this entire season and Jake Elliot is on a streak of 14 straight field goals made.
That reflects well on Lovato.
For their parts, Elliot and Johnson are likely to receive extensions as well, however Elliot is a restricted free agent and Johnston is an exclusive rights free agent, so the Eagles don’t necessarily need to complete those deals right away.
