The Philadelphia Eagles have leaned on offensive tackle Lane Johnson for the last decade-plus. That pairing has produced a pair of Super Bowl wins and a career that will almost certainly land Johnson in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day.
What Johnson doesn’t want to do is see his legacy sullied by limping to the finish, and the Eagles don’t want that either. That’s why missing Johnson is so detrimental to Philadelphia being able to not only win games but try and win a second consecutive Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.
Johnson injured his foot in a win over the Detroit Lions in Week 11 and missed his team’s Week 12 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
“The big one, Lane Johnson, one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL, out this week with a Lisfranc sprain (but) no IR for him,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said before Philadelphia’s Week 13 home game against the Chicago Bears on Friday, November 28. “My understanding is he is targeting December 14, against the Las Vegas Raiders, for his return.”
Fred Johnson has been starting in place of Johnson, a 5-time NFL All-Pro and 6-time Pro Bowler.
Eagles Still Have Elite Talent on Offensive Line
The Eagles can survive the absence of Johnson because they have one of the most talented offensive lines in the NFL — he’s one of 4 Pro Bowlers in the starting lineup along with center Cam Jurgens, guard Landon Dickerson and left offensive tackle Jordan Mailata.
The problem this year has been staying healthy. Something is obviously wrong with Jurgens, who signed a 4-year, $68 million contract extension this offseason and has been one of the NFL’s worst centers.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jurgens’ 58.4 overall grade this season puts him 30th out of 38 eligible players at his position and his pass blocking has been even more miserable with a 48.3 overall grade.
Like Johnson, both Jurgens and Dickerson have missed games due to injuries this season. Only Mailata hasn’t missed a start.
Johnson Has Seemingly Gotten Better With Age
Johnson, 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds, was the No. 4 overall pick by the Eagles in the 2013 NFL draft. That’s kind of incredible considering he played less than 2 seasons at offensive tackle for Oklahoma, where he played quarterback, tight end and defensive end before being asked to become a backup offensive lineman due to injuries to other players midway through his junior year.
That ended up being a pretty lucrative move for Johnson, who is one of the highest paid linemen in NFL history.
At the end of the 2025 season, Johnson will have approximately $163.2 million in career earnings. He’s due $41.7 million in 2026 and if he plays out his current contract — which would run until he’s 38 years old in 2028 — would end up with $263.2 million in career earnings.
Johnson gets that kind of cash because he has only seemed to get better with age, and didn’t earn his first Pro Bowl or NFL All-Pro nod until his fifth season. In the last 7 seasons, he’s been either one or both of those things every year but 2020, when he missed 9 games due to an ankle injury.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Insider Reveals Injury Timeline Update for Eagles OT Lane Johnson appeared first on Heavy Sports.