Raiders make Andrew DePaola highest paid long snapper in NFL

Last month, the Raiders informed 11-year veteran long snapper Jon Condo that his career playing in Silver and Black had come to an end. The Raiders got ahead of it by signing Andrew East and Bradley Northnagel to compete for the job.

They will now have even more competition as the team officially signed former Bears’ long snapper Andrew DePaola on Friday to a four-year contact worth $4.27 million including $875 thousand guaranteed. The deal makes DePaola the highest paid long snapper in the league according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

DePaola ranked seventh in snap accuracy (97.7%) among 33 NFL long snappers that were graded by Pro Football Focus. For comparison, Condo in 2017 was ranked 28th (91.7%).

The four-year veteran spent his first three seasons in the league with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then moved to the Windy City in 2017. But before he had a chance to play in the NFL, DePaola was just a man with a dream who spent four years working at Best Buy to make ends meet. Now, he can call himself the highest paid long snapper in football.

As the highest paid player at his position in the league, it is DaPaola’s job to lose. But he will still have to compete with East and Northnagel for a spot on the team. Having an effective long snapper is like having a kicker, you don’t realize how valuable they are until you need them the most. Certainly seems Jon Gruden and his staff recognize this and want to make sure they have a good one no matter the price.