Eagles Coach Raised Eyebrows When He Singled Out Backup Offensive Lineman For Praise

Nick Sirianni could have chosen several players to praise, but he picked a sixth-year blocker wth eight career starts.

Eagles backup tackle Fred Johnson (left) with Mekhi Becton on Day 15 of training camp. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – It caused more than a few raised eyebrows when Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was asked for one or two players who have shown great improvement from last year to this year.

It wasn’t Jalen Carter or Jordan Davis. It wasn’t Jalen Hurts or A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith.

It was … Fred Johnson?

Yep, the one and only. Wait. There are probably hundreds of Fred Johnson’s in the phone book. Wait. Phone books aren’t around anymore, are they? You get the picture. It’s a common name, for a player who may be proving to be very uncommon at 6-7, 326-pounds with arms that stretch nearly three feet long.

“Fred Johnson is continuing to develop as a really solid football player,” said Sirianni after Thursday night’s 14-13 win over the Patriots. “He works his butt off. He’s a big man, right? You see that, and it’s hard to get around him. He just continues to put the work in that he needs to put in to develop at his position. I’m really pleased with how Fred has worked, his toughness and just his ability to improve each day.

“You can see that, so I’m happy. You asked me for a guy, that’s the guy I’ll single out right there. I’m proud of Fred for all the work he’s put in to get himself to where he is right now.”

Johnson hasn’t exactly stood out much in camp, so it was a semi-surprise endorsement from the coach.

Then came Tuesday, Day 15 of camp. And Johnson stood out.

Eli Ricks probably didn’t know what hit him on one sweep that saw Johnson pull from his left tackle post to the left to create daylight on a sweep for Ty Davis-Price. From across the field, it looked like a train ran into the cornerback. Except there were no tracks.

Johnson again was in the way on a sweep to Will Shipley. This time, he looked like a bowling bowl, knocking over a couple of pins along his way downfield after pulling again.

“Fred’s got some long arms and he has a lot of power with them,” said center Cam Jurgens, drawing out the word ‘long.’ “He’s fun to be around. He’s a good teammate. We love him, and he’s doing a really good job going from left tackle to right tackle, and he just has a lot of fun with it. We enjoy it. He can make some splash highlight plays and it’s fun to see.”

It may come as a surprise for those not up on offensive lineman that Johnson is 27 and in his sixth season. He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Florida, signed by the Steelers in 2019. Pittsburgh cut him in October, and he signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, playing three years for them, playing in 23 games with eight starts.

After being cut, he went to Tampa and played five games there, but was released on Nov. 1, 2022. A week later he signed with the Eagles practice squad. On Aug. 24 last year, the Eagles signed him to a two-year contract, and he has played in 17 games with Philly, without any starts.

He wear the No. 74 to honor his late grandfather, who passed away at age 74.

“We’ve been seeing him work his ass off all camp, pass game, run game, being able to lock people down and just drive through the whistle and finish guy,” said Jurgens. “We need a lot more guys like him.”

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