Top 20 NFL Sooners, No. 6: Lane Johnson

From high school quarterback to juco tight end to defensive end to offensive tackle, Lane Johnson's road to NFL stardom (and riches) was uncommonly winding

In the past 20 years, the Oklahoma Sooners have experienced arguably their most productive era ever in the NFL Draft.

From the 2000 to 2019 drafts — the entirety of the Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley years — OU has had 95 players drafted.

Using today’s 7-round comparison, that’s more than any other two-decade era in school history. In the 1970s and ‘80s, OU had 131 players drafted, but only 88 were selected in the first seven rounds.

In the last 20 years, the Sooners have produced some historically good players. Every day leading up to this year’s NFL Draft (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), SI Sooners presents the Top 20 NFL Sooners of the last 20 years.

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Lane Johnson earned All-State recognition as a high school quarterback, but Groveton, Texas, consisted of just 35 students.

He was 6-foot-6 and 202 pounds, but had zero scholarship offers.

He switched from quarterback to tight end after one year playing for J.J. Eckert at Kilgore Junior College, but there wasn’t much of a future at that position, either — not even after he signed with Oklahoma.

Three position switches later, Johnson finally found his home — offensive tackle — and Johnson’s future finally arrived.

Proper nutrition and strength training at OU enabled Johnson to grow into his frame, a hulking 285 pounds, and somehow he never lost his speed. That, coupled with elite o-line coaching, produced an NFL Combine freak (he ran a 4.72-second 40-yard dash), a first-round draft pick (fourth overall) and, eventually, the NFL’s highest-paid offensive tackle.

A small town boy, a juco reject, a great athlete without a position — all those factors shaped Johnson into a premier offensive tackle on football’s biggest stage.

"Everybody says you’re from a small town, it’s hard to make it because you have that mindset,” Johnson told PhiladelphiaEagles.com last year. “Once you lose that mindset, then you can accomplish it. That was really it. Once I overcame those obstacles and saw everything for what it was, I was probably my own worst limiting factor in the equation. Now I see all of that and really it’s a beautiful thing.”

Johnson had given up the quarterback thing by the time Oklahoma found him. He was a promising tight end, but when he got to Norman in 2009, o-line coach Kevin Wilson had other ideas. Johnson's long frame, accentuated by longer arms, made him a formidable candidate to play left tackle.

Only, defensive coordinator Brent Venables wanted to try him out at defensive end, too. Johnson redshirted as a tight end, dabbled at offensive tackle, then spent an offseason at defensive end and finally moved back to tackle, where he started 12 games in 2011 at right tackle, then switched to left tackle and became an All-Big 12 performer.

Now 317 pounds, Johnson is a star in the NFL, a dominant player for the Eagles and a social butterfly whose popularity took off when he donned a rubber dog mask (underdog, you know) and then helped lead Philly to its first Super Bowl championship.

Johnson was named first-team AP All-Pro in 2017, and he’s earned a spot in the Pro Bowl each of the last three seasons (despite playing late last season on a sprained MCL and high ankle sprain). He’s started each of the 92 NFL games in which he’s played and, well, he’s rich. Really rich.

As the fourth overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, Johnson got a $12 million signing bonus, then in 2016 signed a five-year, $56 million extension, which made him the NFL’s highest paid right tackle. Then, after his salary was surpassed by former Sooner Trent Williams, Johnson last November signed another extension, a four-year, $72 million deal that included $54.6 million guaranteed and made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in league history.

So far in his career, Johnson has earned more than $59 million, and if his contract reaches term (he’d be 35), it’ll pay him nearly $176 million.

Johnson paid it forward last year by gifting Kilgore a $500,000 training facility.

“I wanted to give back to one of the places that was pivotal for helping with my success,” Johnson said in a Kilgore press release.

“I’m finally in a place where I can make these things a reality and inspire the next generation to chase their dreams. It truly is an underdog story – coming from small town East Texas to a juco to making it in the NFL and winning a Super Bowl. My whole purpose is to show them that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to.”

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Our Top 20 list was chosen by five voters: SI Sooners publisher John Hoover, deputy editor Parker Thune, long-time OU fan and amateur Sooner historian Anthony Jumper, OU school of journalism student Caroline Grace, and OU history and stats expert Steven Smith (aka Blinkin Riley).

The criteria was simple: former Sooners who played at OU during the last 20 years and went on to an NFL career. The rest, i.e, their NFL career, was purely subjective. Players received 20 points for a first-place vote, 19 for second, etc., down to 1 point for 20th. A total of 28 players received votes.

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