Eagles re-sign Jake Elliott and Rick Lovato

The Philadelphia Eagles re-signed kicker Jake Elliott and long snapper Rick Lovato to one-year contracts, according to an official announcement from the team. Both players will be back for the 2019 NFL season.

This news hardly comes as a surprise. Elliott and Lovato have performed well enough to where they deserved to be retained.

Here’s what we previously wrote in our performance review of Elliott:

Review: Despite having identical field goal stats (26/31) as last year, Elliott showed some improvement in 2018. He only missed one field goal from the 30-39 range in 2018 whereas he missed three in 2017. Elliott also missed one fewer extra point than he did in 2017, though he also had seven fewer tries. Three of Elliott’s missed field goals in 2018 were from 50 yards and beyond, which is more forgivable. Elliott really only had two painful misses in 2018. One was a 36-yard field goal attempt against the Panthers in Week 7. If Elliott makes that, the Eagles are ultimately able to kick a short field goal for the win instead of trying to go for a touchdown and turning the ball over on fourth downs. Perhaps the “Carson Wentz isn’t clutch!” narrative looks a little different. And speaking of that narrative, Elliott also missed an extra point in Week 14 against the Cowboys that didn’t help Wentz. If Elliott makes a 33-yard try in Dallas, the Eagles are able to take a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter instead of merely tying the game at 23-23 and sending it into overtime. Elliott can certainly afford to improve even more with extra points considering he finished 20th out of kicker in XP% in 2018 and 25th in 2017.

Outlook: Elliott can leave you feeling frustrated on occasion but he’s typically come up clutch in big spots. His Week 16 game-winner against the Texans is a reminder of that very fact. Elliott will officially be the Eagles’ kicker in 2019 after the team gives him a minimum contract offer this offseason since he’s an exclusive-rights free agent.

And here’s what we had written about Lovato:

Review: According to BGN’s Lee Sifford, Pro Football Focus had Lovato as their eighth best graded long snapper in 2018. Lovato didn’t hasn’t had any egregiously bad snaps since joining Philly. He’s performed well enough to be this team’s long-term answer at the position.

Outlook: The 26-year-old Lovato is set to be a free agent when the new league year starts. The Eagles should look to sign him to an extension before then.

Elliott’s contract is likely a minimum deal considering he was set to be an exclusive-rights free agent and could not negotiate with any other teams. Elliott will be a restricted free agent next offseason. The same applies to Lovato, who was also set to be an exclusive-rights free agent.

Find an updated list of the Eagles’ 2019 free agents below. Note that the new league year officially begins on Wednesday, March 13 at 4:00 PM Eastern.