Middletown's Rick Lovato Signed to the Eagles

Middletown, NJ - Rick Lovato, Jr. is now playing the closest he's ever been to home in his professional NFL career.

Lovato, 24, a long snapper and Middletown, NJ native, was just signed Monday night by the Philadelphia Eagles, the team announced. He will replace long snapper Jon Dorenbos, who broke his wrist in Sunday's game. Lovato was a football star at Middletown South and then went on to become an FCS All-American long-snapper at Old Dominion, where he played in all 50 games during his 2011-2014 college career. The Eagles are now the fourth NFL team Lovato's played for: He was originally signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent after college. He then went to the Green Bay Packers, where he played in two of their playoff games last year. He was released by the Packers before the start of this year's regular season and then played two games for the Washington Redskins this past fall before being signed by the Eagles Monday.

He is the son of Rick and Maureen Lovato, and has two sisters, Michelle and Jacqueline. Watch him this coming Sunday, Dec. 18 when the Eagles play the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore.

Image courtesy Old Dominion Sports.