Bowen: Lane Johnson’s journey to Eagles franchise icon was not the smoothest

Lane Johnson’s announcement Saturday that this probably will be his last NFL season brought up more than a few memories.

His has been quite a journey — from junior college quarterback to best right tackle in Eagles history, with two Super Bowl rings. Johnson is a certainty for the franchise’s Hall of Fame, and I think he ought to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well, as the best right tackle of his era. (His remarks about the deficiencies of “expert rankings” Saturday were very much on point.)

The sharpest memory that came to mind, though, was of a day exactly 10 years ago, when I emerged from a brief phone conversation with Johnson wondering if his career was going to be one of those “what might have been” stories.

It was August 9, 2016, and my training camp focus was on the new rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz, along with the new head coach, Doug Pederson. Then came a report that Johnson, who had served a four-game NFL suspension in 2014 for what was said to be unapproved Adderall usage, had flunked another drug test. That would mean a 10-game NFL suspension, and more ominously, it would put him on the path to a career-killing 2-year ban, should there be a third such instance.

I called him – I’m pretty sure I was the first reporter to reach him after the news broke – and he initially denied any knowledge of a failed test. Within hours, he’d walked that back. I won’t go through the whole history of the next several weeks, but the suspension wasn’t announced right away, and then Johnson appealed it. Finally, the appeal was denied, as almost all NFL appeals are, and he started serving the suspension, four games into the season.

There will be a lot of verbal bouquets tossed from Eagles management when Johnson retires. There were none in 2016, when that 10-game ban of the player taken fourth overall in the 2013 draft torpedoed the start of a promising new era. General manager Howie Roseman’s statement included the words “very disappointed.” Roseman asserted that Johnson’s actions had “affected the entire organization.”

The Eagles were 3-1 when Johnson had to leave the practice facility and break off contact with the coaching staff. They went 2-8 with him working out on his own with some baseball players in Oklahoma.

This started the Lane Johnson Watch. You’re an Eagles fan, you paid to read this, so you know what I mean – the latest tally shows the Eagles are 120-62-1 when he is in the lineup, 19-29 when he is not. Last season, Johnson missed the final seven games with a foot injury, and then missed the excruciating playoff loss to San Francisco. Overall in 2025, it was 8-2 with Johnson, 3-5 without him.

I’m going to break off my memory lane journey for a second to point out something: Hey, if Johnson is retiring after this season, the Eagles are really gonna hafta figure this out. Johnson praised third-round rookie tackle Markel Bell Saturday, calling him “one of the best rookies I’ve been around.” We’ll see what that means going forward, but the Eagles have steadfastly refused to use a high draft pick on a Johnson successor.

The idea back when he was drafted, and for several years thereafter, was that he would be Jason Peters’ successor, at left tackle.

If you recall, there were three well-regarded offensive tackles at the top of the 2013 draft – Eric Fisher, Luke Joeckel, and Johnson. But everyone thought what the Eagles and new coach Chip Kelly wanted was Dion Jordan, an edge rusher who had played for Kelly at Oregon. We all lucked out when Miami traded up in front of the Eagles to third overall, to nab Jordan. With Fisher and Joeckel having gone 1-2 to the Chiefs and Jags, that left the Eagles with Johnson.

It wasn’t necessarily a no-brainer, even then. Johnson had been an OT for exactly two years, and he didn’t get high-first-round draft buzz until he ran a 4,72 40 at the NFL scouting combine, along with a 1.61 10-yard split.

In fact, I’d talked to him at the January Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., mostly because the whole thing about starting out at QB, then going from tight end to defensive end to offensive tackle was a great story.

I was not exactly Lestrodamus in my analysis:

“It’s been an interesting journey for Oklahoma’s Lane Johnson, a lean, imposing 6-6, 302-pounder who made stops at defensive end and tight end before settling on the o-line just two seasons ago. After a good week of practice in Mobile, he ranks just below the very top tier in an excellent offensive-tackle draft class. (The Eagles almost certainly wouldn’t draft Johnson fourth overall, but if they can’t get Texas A & M’s Luke Joeckel there, and they still want a solid tackle, they could trade down and take Johnson).”

I also included this:

“My main deal was, I was going to make it,” Johnson said, when asked about going to Kilgore College from Groveton (Tx., his hometown). “To be honest, going to junior college is kind of like a do-or-die situation, and survival of the fittest, so everybody’s just trying to practice hard. Every time a scout or something comes around, it’s like a ‘Please get me out of here’ kind of deal.”

Oklahoma did just that, on the basis of the Kilgore QB’s athleticism, but stardom did not ensue. Spring 2011, head coach Bob Stoops met with Johnson and asked him to move to the offensive line. Johnson wasn’t at all sure this was a good idea, but “that was my only chance to get on the field,” so he took it, he said.

As soon as Johnson arrived in Philly, it was evident he was going to be good. I don’t think we really knew how good. But Todd Herremans got to move back to his natural guard position, from right tackle, and working with Jeff Stoutland, Johnson embarked on the path that eventually would lead to four successive All-Pro selections.

The drug suspensions were really the only opponent he struggled against. Early on, he still had the frame of a quarterback or tight end, and Johnson found it hard to add weight. It seemed, as a large, bearded man in sequined Mummer’s attire memorably remarked, that “Lane Johnson can’t lay off the juice.”

But we all know the context in which Jason Kelce said that – just after Johnson and the other Eagles figures who had been doubted redeemed themselves by winning the franchise’s first Super Bowl.

As he got older, he said a few years back, he found adding and maintaining weight less of a problem. (Many of us can relate.) He built his own barn-like gym weight-training facility, invited teammates and competitors. He became a sort of spokesman/mentor for O-linemen.

Foot and ankle injuries have dogged Johnson in recent years, though he managed to start 15, 16 and 15 games 2022-24. (He has played hurt quite often – once in October 2018, Johnson confided he hadn’t been doing much in practice all season, because he couldn’t, but he kept answering the bell on game day.)

He said Saturday he is thinking about stepping away mostly because of the family concerns that deepen with age. Kids are growing up, parents are frail. Again, many of us can relate. He’ll be 37 on New Year’s Day.

He’s played in three Super Bowls, winning two. Made six Pro Bowls.

If No. 65 hangs it up after his 14th Eagles season, we won’t have to wonder what might have been.

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