WASHINGTON (The Fan D.C.) -- Washington Redskins long snapper Andrew East is far from the most well-known player.
East signed after regular Washington long snapper Nick Sundberg underwent season-ending surgery, and made his NFL debut when the Redskins played the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
The long snapper position is one of the most anonymous and least rewarding in football; the spotlight only finds them after they have made a mistake. Long snappers work in the shadow of falling on their face, which is not too dissimilar to the life of a gymnast.
Perhaps that's how East connected with his wife, Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson.
"I’m fortunate enough to be able to brag on my wife and everybody be able to appreciate it,” East said, per The Washington Post. “But it’s cool talking with the other players. They brag about their wives, too, for one reason or another. I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world and Shawn is a spectacular woman, but I don’t know if any of the guys in here even know who she is. Some of the coaches do, which is fine.”
Johnson, who won a gold medal and three silvers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, met her husband through East's older brother, an Olympic cyclist at the 2012 London Olympics.
East proposed in 2015 at Wrigley Field, and the couple were married the following year in Tennessee.
“She’s honestly just there (for me),” East said. “We’ve been through so many ups and downs, to be excited when we have an opportunity to get called in by the Redskins, it can be a little dangerous emotionally sometimes if you don’t make it. So she’s been a rock steady.”
The couple still make their home in Nashville, and Johnson will be at the Redskins game Saturday against the Tennessee Titans.
By Ben Krimmel